Hellfire Vampire
by KeySlinger09
Summary: Tsukune Aono, a completely ordinary boy, has been given the chance to go to high school at an academy of monster, by monsters, for monsters. While intimidating, he has his best friend, Ethan Drake, an orphaned boy with a mysterious past, to back him up. With the help of the first friend they make there, Moka Akashiya, they do their best to make it through the year alive.
1. New school, new horrors

**[Hi everyone, I hope everyone is in good from today. In case any of you ask, I got the idea from this story after I read the manga for Rosario + Vampire (although I think I preferred the anime), and, while I really don't mind Tsukune's character, I thought that it would be good to add a character that is a bit less… scared of everything. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this story, and if you have any comments, please don't be shy.]**

 _He was just staring at the wall in his room, lost in his thoughts on the night that changed him altogether. He was unable to forget the night that he lost his family, his friends and everything he knew and cared about._

 _Everyone he knew was involved in an accident when he was seven. His family was invited to a wedding reception of the parents of one of his friends, who also became friends with his parents. The party, despite what he was afraid of, was actually quite cool. While the adults were having a fine-dining celebration while the kids were let out into a playground that was right next to an ice-cream stand. He had enjoyed the company of his friend and all the other kids, all of them playing loads of different games, from tag to hide and seek (which he was brilliant at), it was great._

 _However, it all soon came crashing down. The kids soon started to smell smoke. Unsure of what was going on exactly, they soon started to get worried. The man standing at the ice-cream stand went back into the hotel to see what was going on. He tried to tell the kids that everything was alright as he left, but it didn't work, as they soon heard screams coming out of the hotel. He was soon starting to cry from the fear._

" _What's going on? Why are people screaming? WHAT'S GOING ON!?"_

…

"Hey, Ethan, Wake up!" came a voice.

The boy, now known as Ethan, woke up from his slumber. He sat up an looked around, wondering where the voice came from. As he rubbed his face, trying to get himself to wake up, he started to remember that dream. To him, it was the beginning of the end, something he wish could just have been a dream. After he managed to wake himself up completely. He hauled himself out of his bed, looking around. There was a white wardrobe, a wooden desk with a chest hidden under it and a desk lamp on said desk and a mirror over the desk. There was also a poster of a skeleton wearing a cloak and had a background of crimson flames, the words "Shinigami" written underneath the figure. Other than that, the room was completely bare.

He went to the wardrobe and opened the door, lifting out a pair of denim jeans, a white "V-neck" t-shirt and a black zip-up jacket. He put them on and decided to look at himself in the mirror. His facial features consisted of an angular face, green eyes and silver hair that had a slightly spiky fringe, but was much spikier at the back of his head. His hair naturally took that shape as he got older. He tried to style it to make it look normal, but it quickly returned to its original shape after just a few seconds. He gave up trying after a while. He just brushed his right hand through his hair briefly and made his way to the door.

"Hey, Ethan, are you still there?" came the voice again.

Ethan sighed. "Yeah, Yeah. Don't get you panties in a twist, Tsukune."

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, his nose met the scent of, surprisingly, chicken and cheese. He followed the scent into the kitchen of the house. His eyes soon met the sight of a boy who was the only person he considered a friend. He head brown, regular looking hair with a couple of spikes sticking out of the sides. He also had brown eyes, was less than 6 feet, and wore a simple, white t-shirt, striped pants and an apron that said "I love food".

Ethan sat down at the small table, sitting on a mat cross-legged. "Morning Tsukune, what's cooking?" Ethan asked.

"You're not going to believe it. I made… fried chicken for breakfast!" he exclaimed with a smile on his voice.

Ethan, who was seldom surprised by anything, slightly raised his eyebrows. It was unusual to see Tsukune trying something different to cereal or rice for breakfast. This would be because if there was anyway to describe the boy, Tsukune Aono, it was… "Average". He was average at everything, whether it be at sports, school work, cooking or anything else, his skills were, while not bad, were not very impressive. This wouldn't usually work well in his favour.

"Fried chicken? What happened to the Tsukune who never once strayed from a regular breakfast?" Ethan asked.

Tsukune gave him a smile as he gave him a plate of the chicken with a cup of coffee to go with it. "I thought, at your suggestion that I try to add a bit of variety in my life. What better way of doing that than making one of the best foods ever for breakfast?" he answered.

Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. He lowered his hand and looked directly at his friend. "Doesn't fried chicken give you a stomach ache if you eat it too early in the morning?" he asked.

"Yep, that's why I never go for anything too good until evening time." He said confidently.

Ethan stared at him for a moment. Soon after, he placed his breakfast on the table and stared at Tsukune with narrowed eyes and a small smirk on his face.

"What happened?"

Tsukune's face immediately paled and his confident smile turned into a nervous one. Once again Ethan has managed to catch him out, as he had been able to do since the two have met.

"Wh-wh-wh-what do you mean?" Tsukune asked, unable to shake the fear coming off of him.

Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose as he answered. "The only time you try to act "Un-ordinary" is when something's bothering you." He lowered his hand and looked straight at his friend, who had a more depressed look on his face now.

"C'mon, you're always telling me to open up about my problems, is there harm in trying it in reverse this time?" Ethan asked.

Tsukune was silent for a moment. He broke it as he went over to the kitchen counter, picked up a sheet of paper and handed it to Ethan. Ethan scanned the page quickly. When he was finished, he let out what could only be a sigh of defeat and looked up at his friend.

"Another rejection? C'mon, that's the third entrance exam you failed this month!" he said.

Tsukune slumped back onto the ground, an aura of gloom practically radiating off of him now. The main problem about him being an average kind of person in general was that his school grades weren't able to compete with others. All the other kids in the country were able to pull ahead of Tsukune and take a spot for themselves in the registration for different High Schools. He had applied to many, but once again he had fallen short.

"I don't know if I can keep doing this, Ethan. No matter how hard I try, all the study and tutoring has gone to waste." Tsukune said, his depression now visible in his voice.

Ethan briefly looked offended. "Hey, I managed to help you out with co-ordinate geometry, right? Without me you wouldn't have been able to pass at all." He pointed out. He took a quick sip of his coffee before continuing to speak. "Besides, there are still plenty of good options out there. You just have to keep looking."

Tsukune's head was now resting in his hands. "Yeah, right. Who would want a dull, ordinary guy like me when they can have the sportiest and smartest kids available? I'm just a joke compared to them."

With that, Ethan picked up a knife and quickly pointed the tip at Tsukune's nose, causing him to roll backwards with fright. When he recovered, he saw Ethan giving him a steely expression on his face.

"Give that up, man. You're going to make something of yourself one day. I know it. So don't just sit around feeling sorry for yourself; if you don't like something, do something about it instead of moping and crying about it." He said sternly.

Tsukune gulped. He was always amazed at how terrifying Ethan could be when he wanted to be. It was one of the reasons he didn't have a lot of friends in his last school (that and he broke a bully's right arm and all his ribs when he made fun of him), so it was a miracle that Tsukune was able to work up the courage to talk to him. Ethan kept ignoring him at first, but the average boy was persistent, not giving up until he managed to get somewhere.

Then one day, Tsukune had been trapped by a group of bullies. He wasn't able to do much, as he didn't really know how to fight. He received a strong punch to his left eyes, causing him to fall back and yelp in pain. The bullies laughed at him. The attacker was about to stomp on Tsukune's head when, as the foot was inches away from his face, a hand appeared and grabbed onto the foot. Tsukune looked to where the hand was coming from and saw that it was Ethan who stopped him.

With a strong vice grip around the foot, he pushed it back up as high as he could, causing the bully to fall onto his back. Ethan then gave him a powerful fist to his chest, causing a few ribs to break inside his chest. The other bullies tried to beat up Ethan, but he proved to fast for them; he gave one an elbow to the side of his head, knocking him out cold, another received to side kick to the stomach that sent him flying away from the group. Two more both tried to punch him simultaneously, only for Ethan to roll under their punched and stand up behind them, grabbing onto their heads and smashing them against each other.

When he was finished, he walked up to Tsukune. Tsukune was afraid that he would be next, closing his eyes in preparation for whatever might come his way. Instead, he opened his eyes to a helping hand and a small smirk from his defender. With a large smile, Tsukune took his hand, and the two have been friends ever since.

Tsukune quickly nodded his head to show he understood what Ethan said. The latter put the knife back down and picked up his coffee mug, downing what was left inside. He then picked up a piece of chicken and took a bite.

"Well, we can worry about the school thing later. You started the day off with a weird surprise, so why not make the rest of the day spontaneous?" he said half-joking, knowing that Tsukune was rubbish at "spontaneous".

"How about we go to the video arcade, you still owe me a match at that "Time Crisis" game." Tsukune suggested.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders. "Sound good to me. Get dressed and let's get going." He answered.

Tsukune gave him a smirk. "Who are you? My mother?" he asked sarcastically.

"If I was, I wouldn't have held a knife to your face." Ethan pointed out.

Tsukune made a slight chuckle before heading upstairs. While Ethan waited, he picked up a magazine he saw and read an article talking about a new film coming out next month. He didn't go to the movies much, but he liked staying up to date on things around the world, whether it be actual news or pop culture.

When he was finished, he heard Tsukune walking down the stairs. He was now wearing a black shirt, denim jeans and white sneakers. Ethan threw the magazine on the table and they both made their way towards the door.

"Get ready to lose again, bud. When it comes to shooting games, I never lose." Ethan stated.

"Yeah, well, today I say I'm going to have a little more luAAAAGH!" Tsukune said. Before he could finish his sentence, he was slammed into the wall by the front door as he was just about to open it. Ethan was a little bit behind him, so he managed to avoid getting hit with the door. He looked to see what had happened, only to see Tsukune's parents walk in through the door.

"This is a perfect day today!" Mr. Aono said.

"I couldn't be any happier than I am now!" Mrs Aono said. When she finished, she saw Ethan standing at the doorway. "Hello, Ethan. How are you? I hope you're comfortable in our house this summer."

"Thank you Mrs Aono, I'm okay. Tsukune and I were about to hit the arcade, actually. Speaking of which, I think he's still stuck behind the door." Ethan replied.

Confused, both of Tsukune's parents were confused at first, until they looked behind the door and saw their son now planted into the wall.

His mother simply smiled. "Oh, Tsukune, there you are. I have great news!" she said. She then turned to Ethan. "Is it alright if we talk to him for a bit before you head out?" she asked nicely.

He gave them both a thumbs up. "No problem. Just need to get him out first." Ethan went over to his flattened friend and peeled him off. Tsukune thanked Ethan while he was being carried back into the kitchen. When he was put down on a stool, he came back to his senses, and his parents started to talk to him.

"Tsukune, do you know how you haven't been doing well in the entrance exams for all those different High Schools, lately?" Mrs Aono asked.

Tsukune immediately slumped. "Yes, I know."

"Well, we have good news! We found you a school that is willing to take you in without the need for an exam!" Mr Aono said.

Tsukune and Ethan both looked at the parents like they had two heads. Ethan suspected that wherever they were, they must've been serving many beverages.

"Where exactly did you hear of this school?" Tsukune asked.

Mr. Aono handed him a flyer. Tsukune read over it as his father answered his earlier question.

"I got this flyer from a creepy looking priest that we were walking past on the way back here. The flyer fell out of his pocket, so we just picked it up and read it out of interest. Isn't it great?"

Tsukune looked at his parents with pure disbelief while Ethan looked at his, now suffering, friend with surprise. "Your folks must be reeeally desperate at this stage." He said.

"Guess so." Tsukune said. The parents were dancing with joy, much to Tsukune's further disbelief. They were planning on sending him to a school that they had never heard of before, the only piece of information being from a flyer they got from a person they didn't even speak to. Somehow, what was left of his luck was now flushed down the toilet.

"Alright, now you two can go enjoy your games now. See you later." Mrs Aono said.

…..

Ethan and Tsukune took the liberty of skipping the game arcade for the time being. Tsukune didn't feel up to it, while Ethan felt it wasn't fair to beat him when he was this upset. Instead, they went a a nearby diner and got burgers and fries. Tsukune got them both chocolate milkshakes, which Etan didn't have much of. Tsukune left his head on the table, still thinking about what had happened.

Ethan sighed and started to eat his fries as he tried to cheer his friend up. "Look, I know it was a bit of a shock, I would probably feel the same if I was in your position. But, well, you never know. It might be pretty good." He said. After a few seconds of letting it sink in, he saw that he wasn't getting anywhere.

"Can I see that, by the looks of it, talking to you won't get us anywhere." He said. "Do you still have the flyer?"

Tsukune rubbed his face up and down, a form of depressed nod Ethan saw from him before. Tsukune pulled out the flyer and handed it to Ethan. The latter scanned the flyer. According to it, the school was called "Yokai Academy". It basically said that it was a place for unique individuals, each of whom were given a chance to live a better life, away from the hustle and bustle of the world.

Ethan re-read it a few more times. He wasn't so sure about it anymore. What it seemed to be promising was a little too good to be true for his liking. He finished the rest of his fries before coming up with an answer to the solution.

"Well, it seems like you're going to go to this school whether you like it or not." Ethan said.

Tsukune raised his head. "I thought you were trying to cheer me up!" he exclaimed. He grabbed his milkshake and started draining it, not giving a rat's backside whether or not he gets brain-freeze.

"Which is why I'm going with you." Ethan finished. This caused Tsukune to spit-take, just narrowly missing Ethan's head. When he was finished, he looked at Ethan with a shocked expression on his face.

"WHAT? WHY?" he asked.

"Well, aside from wanting a change of scenery, it wouldn't be fair to send you there without back-up. Besides, it might actually promise what it preaches, and provide us with a good education in the process. So, you okay with this?"

Tsukune wasn't sure what to say. Ethan had already earned a few requests to go to a number of high schools after he did so well in his exams and tests in the school they both went too, all of them were of great quality. He sighed, knowing that he couldn't let his friend risk his future like that.

"I'm sorry, Ethan. I can't let you do it." Tsukune said.

After a moment of silence, there were a couple of chuckles coming from somewhere. Tsukune looked up and, much to his surprise, saw that it was Ethan laughing away to himself. When he was finished, he shook his head.

"You're pretty funny, Tsukune. You actually think I'm letting you think you've a choice in this matter." He picked up his milkshake and took another sip. "I know it may seem a little bit of a pain, considering your parents are making you go there, but like it or not, I've got your back."

Tsukune was at a loss for words. His face changed back to a smile and thanked him.

Ethan raised his glass into the air. "What are friends for? Cheers."

Tsukune raised his glass into the air. "Cheers."

….

"Man, the one thing I don't miss about school." Ethan said to himself.

After Ethan and Tsukune told them that they were going to the school, they were more than happy to help both him and Tsukune with getting the supplies they need. They had the schoolbooks required, stationary, bags, even their uniform, which consisted of a white shirt, red tie, yellow pants and a green blazer. Tsukune didn't mind, but Ethan felt really uncomfortable in it.

"You never know, you might get used to it." Tsukune offered.

"Yes, certainly. Who wouldn't get used to an outfit that's designed to make you itchy like hell." Ethan replied.

Tsukune sighed. He hoped that when they arrived at this school, no one would try to get on his nerves. Ethan has proven time and time again that he could beat someone senseless (even tearing a phone book in half to scare a couple of guys who tried picking on a girl a couple of years ago), he would need to make sure that he keeps him calm before he tears someone limb from limb.

They talked about a few more things for a while before they heard a car horn blaring. They turned to where they heard the source and saw a school bus coming their way. It seemed like a normal bus. When it stopped right in front of them, the doors opened, revealing a man in his forties, pale skin, a bus-driver uniform, the hat that went with the uniform covered the top half of his face, except for his eyes that seemed to glow underneath.

Ethan wasn't fazed by his appearance, but Tsukune was shivering slightly when he first saw the driver. They got on the bus, the driver giving them a smile and telling them to enjoy the ride.

"Well, this is it. You ready?" Ethan asked, making himself comfortable on one of the seats.

"I don't know. If it comes to it, please put me out of my misery." Tsukune said, getting a chuckle out of Ethan.

…

Ethan had fallen asleep while Tsukune was left alone with his thoughts. He thought what his new school was going to be like. Life wasn't exactly extravagant for him; the only interesting thing that ever happened to him was meeting Ethan, who was practically a human shredding machine.

Tsukune often wondered what happened to him when he was younger. For as long as he knew him, Ethan had been orphaned when he was little, moving from different foster homes, not just in the states, where he was born, but in different places around the world. Under different circumstances, the idea of seeing the world sounded great, but he knew that foster care was a difficult process for kids. When he hit Japan, and a couple of weeks after Ethan saved him from the bullies, Tsukune's family offered to take him in; both Ethan and Tsukune were happy with this, as they had become good friends quite quickly.

Now, however, they were both headed into a whole new environment. While he was worried he would make a mess of things for himself, he was worried that Ethan would find it troublesome to find new friends.

He sighed as he continued to stare out the window. After a long while of sitting on the bus, he was close to falling asleep himself. However, he was given a strong hit to his back. Getting his breath back, as it was literally knocked out of him, he turned and saw Ethan standing above him with his backpack, pointing towards the door.

"The driver says we're here, you want to get off or head back home?" he asked.

"No way, Mom and Dad would kill me!" Tsukune replied.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Them? Really? You're Dad cried when that fruit-fly died... for a week."

Tsukune immediately sweat-dropped at the statement. His dad was always a bit of a softie, a bit too much of one for his liking. He still couldn't believe he gave the fly a whole ceremony to honour it.

"It was one hectic week." Tsukune said as he walked off the bus first.

Ethan followed him soon after. "Hey, you've got to admire his respect towards life, at least." Ethan pointed out.

Before the two could get any further from the bus, the driver spoke up.

"You guys be careful, alright?" he said.

Ethan turned back to him with a blank expression on his face while Tsukune looked quite confused.

"What do you mean, exactly?" Ethan asked, his voice as emotionless as his face. He would act like this when he was curious. Tsukune could never tell why.

"This academy can be a pretty scary place, even more than what I'm pretty sure you can handle, spiky. If you two really want to stay, you'd best watch out." Said the driver before he closed the doors.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Tsukune, now looking more worried.

The bus soon drove off, leaving the two on their own. Ethan turned around, his eyes catching the whole of the environment they were in. His eyes rose with a hint of surprise. Tsukune was still looking at where the driver had driven off to. He looked up to Ethan.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked. When he didn't receive a response, he turned to where Ethan was looking. He saw what seemed like a dried up forest, grey soil, dead trees, a crimson sea and a large castle in the distance.

"WHERE THE HECK ARE WE!" Tsukune roared, clearly shocked by what he saw.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders in response, clearly having heard him that time. "I don't know... certainly not Kansas."

Ethan walked on, Tsukune staying right by his side, afraid of what might pop up. They walked for a few more minutes before coming across a graveyard. They looked around, hoping to find a sign that could direct them to where they were supposed to be.

"It's official… we're lost." Ethan said.

"Aw man, there's got to be something to show us the way." Tsukune said.

Ethan's ears perked up when he heard, what he thought, was the sound of bats flying over them. He then heard the sound of bicycle brakes going off. He took the liberty of stepping onto a patch of dead grass, off the roads.

"Huh? What're you doing?" Tsukune asked.

"You may want to move too." Ethan said.

Before Tsukune could asked what was going on, he heard the sound of the bicycle breaks screeching like no tomorrow, as well as the sound of someone screaming "LOOK OOOUT!"

Tsukune looked behind him, and was soon hit by a speeding bicycle, which sent both him and the cyclist flying through the air. Ethan saw them, but chose not to act as he could tell not much damage had been done. After a second or two of flying through the air, they both landed on the ground. Ethan narrowed his eyes slightly to see what the damage was. He then decided to go over to them and see what was going on.

When he arrived, Tsukune looked up to him with a very angry face. "YOU LET ME GET HIT WITH THAT BIKE! YOU DIDN'T PULL ME OUT OF THE WAY!" he yelled.

"You didn't ask me to pull you out of the way." Ethan pointed out.

Tsukune continued to yell at Ethan, which only prompted Ethan to chuckle at his unusual rage, until they were soon stopped by the sound of a person moaning in pain. They looked towards the source, only to be stunned by the sight of the source in question.

It was a girl, roughly around their age, with long, pink hair, emerald eyes, slightly pale skin and a heart-shaped face. She wore a similar version of their school uniform, except that she wore a skirt rather than trousers. Tsukune was drawn in by her beauty, while Ethan was focused on checking that she was okay. Before he did though, he gave a small cough, catching Tsukune's attention. Tsukune looked at Ethan, who motioned his eyes towards a particular direction; Tsukune looked and saw that his hand was resting on the girl's thigh. Embarrassed, he withdrew his hand before she could take proper notice.

"Hey, uh, are you okay?" he asked.

The girl moaned slightly before speaking. "Uh, yeah. I'm sorry, I think I got a little dizzy." She rose her head up, giving the two boys a proper view of her face. Tsukune was absolutely mesmerized by her beauty, unable to take his eyes off of her. They were staring at each other for half a minute before the girl gasped. He quickly looked to Ethan, who was trying his best to hold in a strong bout of laughter for some reason. He put his hand to his face, thinking there was something on his face.

His face suddenly went scarlet when he realised that his nose was bleeding.

"Oh my god! You're bleeding! Here, let me help." The girl said. She pulled out a white handkerchief and rubbed his nose clean.

Ethan couldn't help but notice that Tsukune seemed rather pleased to be so close to the girl. He couldn.t blame him really, it's not too often you would have a girl, who you met, this close to cleaning your face. He also had to admit, like he didn't react as strongly as Tsukune, he thought that she was quite the looker.

An eyebrow was raised when he saw the girl starting to sniff him and, oddly enough, the bloodied handkerchief. Tsukune noticed this well.

"Oh… oh my. You smell… so good." She said

Tsukune and Ethan gave each other confused looks.

"I'm sorry. I can't help myself." She said. She started to lean closer to Tsukune. Ethan could see his friend's eyes widening to the size of saucer plates. "Because I… I…" her head was right up against his neck.

"I'm a vampire." She finished. She opened her mouth wide. Her canines elongated into long, sharp fangs and sunk them into the flesh of Tsukune's neck.

Tsukune's reaction was instantaneous. He immediately screamed to the high heavens, after she was now draining him of blood.

Ethan wasted no time in helping him out. He pulled out a small silver ball and threw it at the two. The ball landed between the two, causing it to burst into a large cloud of smoke upon impact. Ethan ran in and yanked the girl away from Tsukune's neck. He threw his friend away and stood between the two, readying a fighting stance.

"YOU BIT ME IN THE NECK!" Tsukune roared. Ethan remained silent, focusing on the girl with a steely glare.

The girl didn't seem to notice as she seemed incredibly gleeful. "Wow… your blood is AMAZING! Thank you for the taste." She said.

Tsukune felt the area where he was bitten. He soon realised that there were no bite marks, as if he was never bitten.

" _Did she really bite me? Maybe I just imagined it."_ He thought. He stood up, placed a hand on Ethan's shoulder and, after the fighter looked back, pointed towards his neck to show no injury. Ethan was immediately confused. They both looked back at the girl.

"Uh, okay. Sorry about the smoke bomb, I just kind of reacted." He said.

"It's okay, it was my fault for just jumping onto him like that." She said. Suddenly, her happy domineer changed and, much to the boys' surprise, looked afraid and nervous. "Do… do either of you… hate vampires?" she asked.

Ethan lowered his stance. He looked back at Tsukune before looking back at the girl. He wasn't sure about what to say. While he could tell that the girl was indeed a good person, he was a bit sceptical allowing the vampire near them in case something bad happened. Before he could give his answer, Tsukune intervened.

"Hey, I've got no problem with vampires, if you want to call yourself one that's fine with me." He said confidently.

Ethan raised his eyebrows with surprise and disbelief. He felt like palm-facing himself after hearing Tsukune say that. It was clear that he thought it was all make believe. Then again, Ethan would've thought so too had he not seen the girl's fangs.

Said girl immediately perked up, running towards the two males and hugging them both at the same as well as knocking them onto the ground. She pushed herself up on her hands, looking down at them. She noticed how happy Tsukune looked while Ethan was still bewildered.

"Do you want to be friends, I don't know anyone else here and I think it would be easier if we stuck together. My name is Moka Akashiya, by the way."

"Uh, my name's Tsukune Aono." Tsukune replied.

Ethan sat up, looking at the girl for a moment before giving his name. "Ethan Drake."

The girl, now named Moka, grabbed a hand from either boy and started to pull them towards a certain direction.

"C'mon, we'd better get going, we don't want to be late." She said.

As she pulled them, Ethan noticed that he seemed a lot happier than before... and stronger, as his arm felt like it was going to be pulled out of its socket. While Tsukune seemed sore, Ethan was smiling. More than likely he was going to have a better time here than he originally believed. However, now knowing that if one mythical beast was attending this school... it would make things much more difficult.

" _How many more monsters are we going to see here? Are we even going to survive after all?"_ he thought to himself.

While they were being dragged off, none of them noticed a figure standing on one of the branches of a dead tree. He was wearing a white cloak with a medallion around his neck. While the top half of his face was covered, his eye seemed to glow yellow underneath. He stared at the trio as they walked off, more precisely at Ethan, with a look of concern.

" **This is going to be an interesting year. Human, vampire… and a very interesting case.** " The figure said. He immediately vanished out of view, leaving no trace of where he just stood.

…

 **[And that's it for now. After writing this, I think that there's a fair bit of potential in this story, so I say that I'll keep going with it for now. If anyone has anything to say, please, say whatever's on your mind, I'd love the feedback. Tanks very much. See you later and have a nice day.]**


	2. First day disaster

After running through the forest for a while, the newly formed tri managed to find the school. At first glance, it was quite an intimidating site to behold. It was the shape of a massive, gothic style castle that looked like it could cover an entire neighbourhood of houses (maybe three). Tsukune seemed a little worried, Moka was overjoyed and Ethan just observed it.

"Uh… is this the school?" Tsukune asked.

"Yep! Pretty cool, huh?" Moka replied.

"Meh, I've seen better castles back in Europe." Ethan answered.

Moka looked at Ethan with amazement. "You went to Europe!? What's it like?" she asked loudly.

Ethan moved his head away from her due to the stinging volume of her voice. "It was pretty good actually. My favourite country was Ireland, the old legends of the Fianna and the banshee were pretty cool. Loads of tech companies from the human world are actually based there." Ethan answered. "Although I reckon I'm a little biased in that regard since I'm actually from there."

In that instant, Tsukune froze. Both Ethan and Moka noticed this and looked to see a very bewildered face which he had on him.

"What do you mean you're Ireland? I thought you were from the states?" he said.

Ethan paused for a moment before giving his answer. "Well… I guess you could say I was from both. When my mother was pregnant with be, both she and my dad won a holiday over in America and stayed there for a while. They day they were supposed to get back, she went into labour. Since I was born there, that technically made me a citizen of the USA, but when my mum was back to full health, we moved back to Doolin." He explained.

"Doolin?" he asked.

"It's a village in county Clare in the west of Ireland. Nice place, lots of banter and, not surprisingly, American tourists. That's where I picked up the accent."

"But then… why were you in that orphanage in America then?" Tsukune asked.

Moka's cheery look seemed to darken when she heard the orphanage. Ethan pretended not to notice.

"Like I said, I'm technically a US citizen, so, by laws and regulations, I had to go back there. It was actually the head lady in charge there, Mrs o Connor, who set up the world foster program so that I could at least go back home for a bit. Even if it wasn't much, she did everything she could for me and the other kids." He said.

Ethan looked back at the young vampiress. He could tell that she felt some sort of empathy for him, but he wasn't sure how. He was about to ask if she was alright when they heard Tsukune shouting like a madman.

"OH MAN, WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR CLASS! C'MON ETHAN!" Tsukune said before running off, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake. Ethan and Moka were coughing the fine material out of their lungs for a bit until the cloud disappeared. The two looked at each other briefly.

"I'd say we better get going. Tsukune will be breathing down my neck for a while if I turn up late." He said.

"Okay, see you later then." Moka said back. She ran off towards another entrance to the school while Ethan followed Tsukune's trail. As he ran, he couldn't help but think about what he saw from Moka.

" _I wonder… what it was like growing up for her._ " He asked himself.

As he was about to go through the doors, his sixth sense for danger suddenly spiked. He turned around, expecting to find an enemy behind him. However, he saw that there was no one there. He stayed still and alert for a few more seconds before continuing on his way towards his first class.

High above on the school roof, unknown to Ethan, stood the same figure that had been observing him, Tsukune and Moka in the forest.

" **He is, indeed, quite sharp.** " He said to himself before vanishing once again.

…

"Hello everyone! My name is Miss Nekonome and I'll be your homeroom teacher!" came the cheery voice of the teacher that stood at the top of the homeroom. She had a heart-shaped face, a pair of glasses, short-blond hair with two tuffs sticking out like ears; she wore an orange tank-top, blue hot pants, sandals and much to the surprise of Tsukune and Ethan, had a tail that was waving about lazily. Neither could help but think that she had a strong aura of kindness and positivity coming from her.

" _Wow, even the teachers are really pretty here!"_ Tsukune said while sporting a gleeful face.

" _Okaaay… I guess that's a thing._ " Ethan thought to himself.

Welcome to Yokai Academy, a school of monsters, by monsters, for monsters." She said cheerfully.

Ethan was sitting in front of Tsukune. Even though he couldn't see him, he could tell that he was suddenly filled with fear. He sighed silently.

" _Please don't tell me he's just after catching on."_ He thought to himself.

Now, like it or not, humans are the dominant species of the planet. As such, it's important for us to learn how to blend in to their society for our own survival.

" _Oh man, I can't believe this is happening to me!_ " Tsukune thought, screaming on the inside.

"Hey teach, why don't we just eat the humans instead?" came the voice of another student. Ethan looked behind him and saw that it was the student sitting beside Tsukune that spoke. He head brown hair that was brushed backwards, had a number of piercings in his face and had the build of an American football player.

The student Looked towards Ethan and, much to Tsukune's horror, elongated his long and pointed it directly towards Ethan, who glared at the other student.

"Now that's a long tongue. You trying to compensate for something?" Ethan asked, his expression now neutral.

The student immediately changed from looking smug to angry, giving him a deadly glare. All the other students were shocked by what he said, though a number were impressed that he could stand up to him so easily. Tsukune wasn't surprised in the slightest.

" _No matter what world we're in, there isn't a bully alive that can scare Ethan._ " Tsukune thought.

Miss Nekonome, sensing the danger, politely asked the two students to calm down. After staying perfectly still for two seconds, they both returned to their original positions, both apologising to Miss Nekonome.

Oh, I should let you know." Miss Nekonome started. "The school is protected by a powerful barrier protecting the school, designed so that no human can get into the school. There is absolutely no chance of a human getting into the school."

Ethan raised his hand up into the air.

"Yes, uh, Mr Drake?" the feline teacher said.

"With all due respect, ma'am, while I'm sure the chances of humans getting into the school are neutral, nothing is impenetrable. What would happen if a human were to enter here?" Ethan said.

Miss Nekonome pondered on what Ethan said. "Well… I guess you have a point. But rest assured, we won't be seeing any humans here." She said.

" _Uh, that chance might be higher than you think_." Tsukune thought.

"But to answer your question, any human who is seen on this campus, even if they're there accidently… would be immediately put to death." She answered.

Ethan and Tsukune were both shocked to hear this. Ethan remained still, but Tsukune was shivering with fright.

" _WHAT!? IF THEY DISCOVER ETHAN AND I ARE HUMAN THEY'RE GOING TO KILL US!?"_ Tsukune thought.

"Okay then. Thank you." Ethan said.

"Right, if we're ready, how about we begin with-" she started. However, she was interrupted when the door opened and, much to the surprise of the two humans, stood a familiar pink-haired vampiress."

"Oh, please excuse me, I got lost and I wasn't sure where to go." Moka said. She was breathing heavily, as if she was running at Mach speed.

Miss Nekonome smiled. "Oh, no need to worry, we were just about to start, please take a seat." She said.

When she entered the class, everyone was speaking to each other under their breath, mainly commenting on how beautiful she was. As she walked down towards the end of the class, she spotted both Ethan, who gave her a two-fingered salute, and Tsukune, who seemed stunned to see her.

She suddenly became overjoyed. "TSUKUNE! ETHAN!" she yelled. She pounced as she spoke, grabbing the two humans and knocking them both to the ground. Ethan suddenly found himself in a similar situation as that of back in the woods.

"This is great, we're all in the same class together!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, great." Tsukune said.

"Not a bad coincidence, huh?" Ethan said.

Both males looked behind her and, much to their discomfort, saw all the boys in the classroom giving them deathly glares.

Ethan sighed. "Welcome to Yokai Academy."

….

After the school day ended, Moka, Tsukune and Ethan all hung out together. They decided that they would explore all around the school. They found that, despite its frightful exterior, the interior of the school resembled a regular high school, lockers, bathrooms, even the cafeteria all seemed rather ordinary.

As they went through the hallways, Ethan and Tsukune both noticed that all the male students were giving them glares. No doubt that they were jealous of them since they were hanging out with the already established number 1 beauty in the school.

Eventually, they went outside the school and found a sitting area in the school. While the observers pressed their faces against the windows to get a good look, the friendly trio made their way to a vending machine. Moka got tomato juice, Tsukune got an energy drink while Ethan opted for just water.

As Tsukune and Moka reached for their drinks, their hands touched off each other. Tsukune apologised, but Moka simply laughed at his silliness and playfully pushed him away, only to send him flying into the wall behind him. Tsukune looked out for the count while Moka was incredibly embarrassed by what he had just did. Ethan simply sipped some of his water, telling Moka that he just made his day. There was always something funny about the ridiculous situations Tsukune got into that Ethan found funny... most of the time, anyway. After pulling Tsukune from the wall, Ethan sat him on a nearby bench, Ethan and Moka sitting at either side of him. They sat in silence as they enjoyed their respective beverages. Tsukune glanced at Moka a few times, wondering what to say. She saw him glancing once, much to his embarrassment, but she laughed it off, thinking it was cute.

Ethan sat in silence, using his peripheral vision to observe the two. " _If Tsukune actually manages to land that girl, he'll be an inspirations to all the single guys everywhere."_ He thought to himself.

"So, Moka, is there anything else we should do while we're still here?" Tsukune asked.

Moka thought for a moment. "I don't know. Is there anything you want to try?" she asked.

"How about spending some time with yours truly?" came a voice behind a pillar.

Both Moka and Tsukune jumped, but Ethan crushed his bottle of water, knowing full well who it was behind them. He looked and saw that it was the guy from the classroom.

"Oh, uh… who are you?" Moka asked.

"The name's Saizou Komiya. Wouldn't you want to hang out with me rather than that clown." Pointing towards Ethan, then grabbing Tsukune by the front of his shirt, raising him up higher than his head. "And this loser?" he finished.

"No, stop! Put him down!" Moka demanded.

Saizou smirked. "If you insist." He readied himself and through Tsukune into the vending machine, causing it to crunch underneath from the force of the impact.

"TSUKUNE!" Moka screamed. She was about to run to Tsukune's aid when she felt a strong grip on her arm. She turned and saw Saizou gripping it tightly.

"C'mon, don't waste your time with that loser. Don't y-" before Saizou could finish speaking, he felt a hand rest on his head and, much to his surprise, pulled him back onto the ground, leaving an imprint in the ground with surprising force. He looked up and saw that is was Ethan. Ethan quickly turned him over, grab him by the arm and twisted it until he heard a loud, popping noise, causing Saizou to roar with pain.

Saizou looked up at Ethan briefly. "Don't think for a second you can get away with messing with, not just one, but two of my friends." Ethan said. As he stared with great fury at Saizou, his eyes, unknown to Ethan himself, briefly changed to ember before reverting to their original colour. Ethan let go of his arm and walked away, not wanting to waste anymore effort on that living piece of trash.

Ethan strolled over to Ethan while Moka rushed at top speed, both making sure that he was okay. Saizou managed to get back onto his feet and started walking away. As he walked, his elongated tongue picked up an unopened can of Tomato juice, crushing it and letting the contents squirt out, resembling blood spritzing from a wound.

…

The trio managed to make their way up onto the school roof. Since Tsukune wasn't hurt much (which surprised Ethan), he was allowed to walk on his own. They stood against the balcony, observing the distance. Moka then turned to him.

"Are you sure you're alright, Tsukune?" Moka asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm pretty sure he won't be bothering us after what Ethan did." Tsukune said.

"Yeah." She replied. She looked over to Ethan. "Thanks for stepping in when you did. You must be pretty strong if you could beat him so easily."

Ethan sighed silently. "It wasn't strength I used. As long as you keep up to date on skill, you can take down any opponent." Ethan said. He then looked over to her. "Remind me to give you both lessons." He said.

Moka seemed grateful for the offer. "Thank you." She said. She then paused. "Ethan, Tsukune, what kind of monsters are you?"

Ethan and Tsukune froze, unsure of what to say. If they told her the truth, they would be caught out for sure. Before they could say anything though, Moka started to speak again.

"Oh, no, never mind, I forgot we're not supposed to reveal our true forms to anyone, sorry." She said.

Ethan and Tsukune looked at each other, confused. Turning back, Tsukune spoke. "Really? You're already told us that you were a vampire."

"I know, but that was before I learned about the rule that we're not allowed to tell each other. Besides, it is kind of a rude question. I'm sorry." She replied.

"Quit apologising already." Ethan said. Moka looked at him with surprise.

Ethan looked at her with a smirk. "Friends don't sweat the small stuff, so there's no need to apologies for every little thing." He explained.

Moka's eyes immediately lit up. Ethan observed this behaviour. He couldn't help but think that there was something about the girl that was nagging at him. While she seemed pretty positive and happy, he could tell that there had been something weighing her down. He decided not to push on it, in case he upset her. He continued to observe the distance, more specifically the red sea resembling a massive pool of blood.

Tsukune spoke up. "Hey Moka. If you don't mind me asking, are all vampires as nice as you. It's just that you really don't fit the description of what we heard about them." He confessed.

"Oh, that's because of this." She said. She undid her blouse, causing a great portion of her cleavage to show. Tsukune was immediately embarrassed and flustered.

"Uh, Moka, what the heck are you doing?" Tsukune asked, only to receive a fist to the top of his head from his more temperamental friend.

"She meant the jewellery , you moron!" he said.

Moka giggled at their antics as she looked down at the object hanging from a choker around her neck. A rosary.

"It's okay. The rosary around my neck helps to seal away my true form, a terrifying vampire." She said.

Tsukune was in awe from what he heard, while Ethan couldn't help but feel a shiver or two go down his spine when he saw the rosary.

She continued to speak. "My true form caused a lot of difficulty, so this seal was created so that I could fit in better. Even I can't take it off." She said.

"Makes sense. If it was easily removable it cause a lot of problems if it came off, even by accident." Ethan pointed out, to which Moka nodded in agreement.

She stayed silent for a moment before turning to Tsukune.

"Tsukune. I need to tell you something." She said, getting Tsukune's attention. "It's just that… well… in a way, you were my first."

Immediately, Ethan started coughing heavily as if he had just swallowed a room-full of smoke, startling Moka and Tsukune. When he was finished, he looked at Tsukune with a bewildered and horrified look.

"TSUKUNE! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO THIS WOMAN BEHIND MY BACK!" he roared.

"AGH, NO, NOTHING HAPPENED, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT SHE'S TALKING ABOUT!"

Moka giggled. "Sorry, I meant that Tsukune was the first person I drank blood directly from. Sorry for the scare." She clarified.

Both boys quickly calmed down.

"Oh, I see. Sorry for flipping out like that, Tsukune." Ethan said.

"No problem." Tsukune said. He turned back to Moka. "So, I'm the first person you drank blood from, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah. To be honest… it was the best thing I've ever tasted. I think I must be the luckiest vampire in the world." She said.

Ethan shook his head with a smile on his face while Tsukune wasn't sure of what to say. Soon Moka slowly closed her eyes and drifted towards Tsukune. Tsukune himself was wide-eyed again.

" _Oh man, what's happening?_ " he asked himself.

"Tsukune… please… let me…" she held her head over his shoulder. "Let me… drink your blood!" she finished. Her fangs sprung out and, as quick as a flash, sunk them into his flesh again. Tsukune screamed while Ethan remained where he was. He trusted Moka not to take too much on him, though he could see that he was very uncomfortable with the situation. To be fair, he should've known, since that was how she acted the last time she bit him.

He sighed and, after seven seconds, she let him go. Tsukune laid on the ground, unable to move from shock. He managed to move his head just enough to see Ethan standing above him.

"Why didn't you stop her?" he asked.

"Hey, you were the one who let yourself get bit twice in a row, at this rate, I'm just an observer." He said.

Tsukune's face deadpanned, realising that he had a point. Ethan helped him back onto his feet. He was about to say something when he noticed Tsukune was starting to shake.

"Tsukune? Tsukune are you okay?" Ethan asked.

"Tsukune, what's wrong?" Moka asked, just as concerned.

In a flash, Tsukune ran away from Moka and Ethan without a word. Both looked to each other, confusion and concern all over their faces. Without any more hesitation, they rushed after him.

….

Tsukune was standing outside the school gates. He was filled with uncertainty about the situation. With all these monsters around, and with him and Ethan being the only humans, he knew that it wouldn't work out. He would head back to the school bus and go back home.

"I'm sorry Moka… Ethan... but this isn't for me." He said under his breath. Before he could walk away, however, he felt a hand grip his shoulder tightly. He turned around and saw Ethan with a look of concern on his face. Right beside him was Moka, whose face was full of worry.

"Tsukune, what's wrong? Why did you run off like that?" she asked.

"This was a mistake." Tsukune said.

Moka looked back at him in confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I should never have come to this school. There's no way I'll fit in here." He then looked at Ethan in the eye. "And how can you be so calm about this?"

"Tsukune, you're talking to the guy who went through more trauma than you'll ever know. If you think that this whole new experience is going to scare me away, you're wrong. Plus, in case you didn't notice, we're already after making a friend who is just as concerned for you as I am." Ethan pointed out.

"What is going on?" she asked.

"I've made up my mind. I'm leaving Yokai Academy and going to a human school." He stated.

As soon as he said it, Moka flew into a panic. "NO, YOU CAN'T! I WON'T LET YOU!" she leapt at him and grabbed his bag.

"MOKA, LET ME GO!" he said.

Soon, Moka calmed down. She released her grip and slumped up against Tsukune, whose surprise seemed to calm him down a bit.

"I'm sorry. It's just… I don't want you to go. I don't want you to be near the humans." She said.

"Why is that?" Ethan asked.

Moka remained silent for a moment before giving her answer. "It's just… I don't really like humans." This caused both Ethan and Tsukune to straighten up.

" _So that's why… oh damn it."_ He said, guessing what she was going to say next.

"The humans can be so cruel. I know this because I attended human schools all my life up to junior high. They treated me horribly because I was different.. They made fun of me, made me feel like I should be dead… I just hate them, there the worst form of people imaginable in the world!"

Ethan cringed. It explained why she seed empathetic in the forest, both of them having tough pasts.

He then looked to Tsukune. Every word she said, while he took no offence, he knew that with the level of emotion Tsukune was already feeling, he could go off like a stick of dynamite. While we would mess with Tsukune a lot himself, he knew his limits. And he knew that she just went beyond them.

Moka looked at Tsukune's face with a grateful expression. "But then… then I met you… and Ethan too. Neither of you cared that I was a vampire. You accepted me for who I am. You made me feel like I mattered. You're both the best thing that ever happened to me."

There was nothing but silence after that. For the first time in a while, Ethan felt true nervousness. Whatever she would say after the comments about humans would be wasted on him now.

Tsukune raised his head, wearing a neutral expression on his face. "Tell me Moka. Would you still be my friend? Even if I told you that I was human?" he asked.

Moka raised her eyebrows, becoming a little frightened at what Tsukune was saying. "Whay do you mean?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"I'm human Moka, I'm a human being and the only reason I'm in this school is because of a big mix-up!"

Silence followed quickly after that. They all stood still, not moving for a minute. Moka took a step back from Tsukune, now filled with fear from hearing that her first friend was human.

"No… no it can't be. No human can get through the barrier." She said. She was clearly terrified.

"Let me guess, you don't want to be my friend anymore because you know I'm human now, right?" Tsukune said.

Ethan saw the anger building up in Tsukune. "Tsukune, calm down." He said.

"Fine. If you don't want to be my friend, I don't care."

"Tsukune, relax, i'm sure-" Ethan started. Before he could, Tsukune roared at Moka.

"I DON'T WANT BE FRIENDS WITH ANY OF YOU STUPID MONSTERS ANYWAY!"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Moka looked horrified and Ethan looked at Tsukune with a look of disbelief and anger. After a brief moment of silence, Tsukune ran off. Moka instinctively reached her hand out to him. But she didn't reach. She watched him run off. She held her hands to her chest, guilt ridden over what had happened.

She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Ethan with a reassuring look on his face.

"Are we going to sit around, moping? Or are we going to give that kid a right talking to?" he asked with a smile.

Moka was silent for a moment, but she soon ran off in a full on sprint, wanting to catch up with Tsukune.

Ethan smiled. "That's the spirit." He said to himself.

….

After half an hour of sprinting after Tsukune, they found that they were no closer to finding him than when they started. They stopped running after that amount of time. Ethan was breathing heavily, but still stood straight, looking back an forth for any trace of their friend. Moka was breathing heavily as well, her hands on her knees and let her head hang.

"Yep, it's official." Ethan said. "We're lost."

Moka managed to stand up straight. She looked at Ethan for a moment. A question had been on her mind since she discovered Tsukune's secret.

"Ethan?" she asked.

"Yeah? What's up?" he asked in return.

"Are… are you human too?" she asked.

Ethan was silent for a moment before giving an answer. "To be honest… I don't know." He answered.

Moka looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

He took in a deep breath before he continued speaking. "An accident that happened when I was younger, it killed everyone that was there. Somehow a fire started and burned everyone who was there at the time, except a children's area where I was at the time. But I knew my parents were in there, so I ran back in, feeling the flames burning the skin off of me. I collapsed from smoke inhalation and, the next thing I knew, I woke up in a hospital with no burns, marks or anything, as if I wasn't touched by the fire. I haven't really thought about it until you asked me just now, to be honest."

Moka looked a little nervous. "Does… does Tsukune know?" she asked.

"He knows about me losing my parents in the fire, not about how I survived, though. I wasn't sure what to make of I myself." He admitted.

The two remained silent for a moment before Moka broke the silence. "Umm… do you think he'll forgive me? I said some horrible things. I never meant to hurt him." Moka said.

Ethan smiled. "Tsukune can be an emotional person, but I can guarantee you that once he's cooled off, he'll forgive you. Whether he likes it or not, he's that good a person. Stupid as hell, but good all the same."

Moka perked up slightly after hearing that. She thanked him with a bow, which he returned with a two-fingered salute. They soon started to make their way when they heard rustling in a nearby bush.

Ethan glared in the direction of the sound. "Whoever's hiding there, get out before I yank you out myself." He stated.

Soon, a figure emerged from the bushes. That Figure was Saizou.

"C'mon, babe, don't waste your time with either of these losers." He said, his tongue slithering out of his mouth.

Moka quickly hid behind Ethan, who glared at the snake-tongued enemy.

"What's wrong? Did I not beat the message into you hard enough?" Ethan asked.

Saizou place a hand to the shoulder Ethan dislocated, grimacing as he remembered the pain and humiliation of that moment. "Yeah, I remember." He answered. "That's why I'm going to get rid of you so I can have her all to myself."

"No thank you, I only make friends with nice people." Moka stated, emerging from behind her friend. Ethan smiled slightly as she showed a little more courage.

"Oh… I'm thinking we can be more than friends." Saizou said. Suddenly, his form began to ripple. He grew in height as his muscle increased, his arms becoming the longest as his fingertips turned into claws. As his shirt was ripped off, they could see ridges building on his chest and pieces of bone started to stick out, imitating armor. When he was finished, he had become a hulking, disgusting beast.

"What the feck?" Ethan said, being unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Oh no… he's an orc!" Moka explained.

Ethan raised an eyebrow at the comment. "Really? I thought they were all green." He said.

Saizou soon started charging towards them. Ethan pushed Moka to one side as he rolled to the other, evading the beast as it crashed into a tree not too far behind them. As Saizou recovered, he felt something jump onto his back. He looked behind and saw that it was Ethan.

" **What? You're going to fight me in your human form? Are you that stupid**?" Saizou said, his voice changing to go along with his new form.

"We ain't allowed to turn into our monster forms, remember?" Ethan pointed out. He tried punching the orc, hoping to cause some damage, but it only resulted in Ethan getting a sore fist from punching the equivalent of a brick wall. Saizou put a hand behind him and grabbed Ethan, trapping him in his grip.

" **We're outside the school's boundaries, so I can do whatever I want**. **Why don't you and Akashiya show me your true monster forms so we can have some real fun**?" he said, soon starting to slowly crush Ethan in his hand.

Through the pain, Ethan managed to speak. "I don't need my monster form to tear your face off."

Saizou leered at him. " **Well… if you insist**." He said as he continued to crush Ethan, causing him to scream in pain, much to Saizou's pleasure.

"NO, STOP!" Moka screamed.

Moka was running to Ethan's aid. She was terrified, but she wasn't going let her friend get hurt. Saizou grinned and, deciding he was bored with him anyway, threw Ethan into a nearby boulder.

Moka gasped. "ETHAN!" she screamed.

" **Alright. It's time to have some fun with you, Akashiya**." Saizou said as he raced towards Moka with a fist raised in the air. Moka saw the fist, knowing she wouldn't be able to evade. As such, she continued to run to Ethan's aid, hoping she would reach him in time.

However, as the giant fist was getting closer, she felt something push her to one side. She was soon out of range of the fist, but heard the sound of someone getting hit, as well as roar of pain. Moka saw that it was, much to her horror and disbelief-

Tsukune.

He was launched into a tree, breaking a couple of bones in the process.

"TSUKUNE!" she yelled, running to his aid now. She slid beside him, resting him onto her lap. Tsukune managed to look up at her.

"Moka… I'm so sorry. I yelled at you… I said I didn't want to be you friend." He managed to say. The pain from the attack made it difficult. He saw Moka starting to tear up. "Please… please forgive me. The truth is… it doesn't matter if whether or not you're a vampire or not. You're you… that's what matters."

They stared at each other for a brief moment before Moka embraced him, saying she was sorry as well, saying that she wished to be friends with him to, not caring what he was.

Saizou was disgusted with this. " **What up with this disgusting love talk. You think I still won't crush you**?" he asked, raising a fist as he prepared to crush them both with a single strike. They held each other close as they waited for the end to come. When his fist came down, they heard it strike something. They winced, thinking at first they were struck. However, they noticed that they were untouched.

" **What the… what are you**?" came Saizou's voice.

Moka and Tsukune looked up and saw, not being able to believe, it, Ethan standing between him and Saizou, a single hand pressing against Saizou's fist. After a brief moment, Ethan dug his fingers into Saizou's skin, raising him into the air quickly and slamming him into the ground. Saizou screamed in pain while Tsukune and Moka stared in astonishment. Ethan's eyes had been closed the entire time, but when he opened them, his eyes were glowing ember as they were once before.

He turned back to his friends. "Moka, get Tsukune out of here, I'll distract this cunt."

"But Ethan-"

"It's okay, I won't be long. Now go."

Ethan focused his attention on Saizou again as he started to get up.

Heeding Ethan's words, Moka held Tsukune in her arms as she found a slope to slide down, giving them the perfect escape.

When Saizou was back on his feet, he felt a fist being driven into his stomach, sending him back a few feet, then feeling a foot come in contact with his face and then felt something grab onto one of his legs. He was soon lifted into the air and the slammed back down. This was done five times before he was then spun around in a circle for half a minute, ending with him being released and sent crashing into the same boulder as Ethan had been.

He looked up and saw Ethan giving him a menacing leer, sending a slight chill down the orc's spine.

" **What… are you**?" he asked.

Ethan examined his hands for a moment, appearing amazed at his own ability. He looked back at the orc and shrugged his shoulders at him with a goofy smile.

"I haven't the foggiest clue." He answered.

Saizou was soon back on his feet. " **You think you can do this to me? I'm going to kill you, then I'm going to tear those friends of yours apart, then I'm going to** -"

"Oh, yeah, right. Thanks for the reminder. See you." Ethan said. He ran past the orc, covering more distance than he normally would and flowing the same path he saw Moka slide down."

" **WHRE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING!?** " Saizou roared as he tried to follow him.

….

"Moka, I told you, I'm fine. I just need to rest for a bit." Tsukune said, trying to reassure Moka that he was okay.

"Are you sure, Saizou hit you pretty hard." Moka responded.

"Yeah. Say, where's Ethan? I thought he'd be here by now." Tsukune said.

As if to answer his question, they heard something come down to the slope of the hill. They saw that it was Ethan. When he landed, he looked around, realising that they were at the bus stop.

"So this is where the bus stop is. Go figure." He said.

Soon after, they all heard a roar of an angry beast above them. They looked up and saw that it was an angry Saizou, his face filled with murderous intent.

"I guess you weren't able to beat him, huh?" Tsukune asked.

Ethan looked down into the palms of his hands as he spoke. "Tsukune, I don't even know how I was able fight him the way he is now, I nearly broke my hand trying to fight him off earlier." He said.

"Any chance you can fight him again?" Moka said.

Ethan grinned. "Sure, I still have some anger to le-" before Ethan could finish, he felt his energy leave him in an instant. His knees buckled and was soon on all fours.

"ETHAN!" both Tsukune and Moka screamed in unison.

"What's…" Ethan managed to say.

Saizou looked down at them with pride as he looked down at the now weakened Ethan. " **Looks like you used up too much energy back there. Fine by me, it'll make it easier for me to kill you**." He said as he came sliding down the hill. When he landed, he stared at the group, assured of his victory.

"Oh boy… not good." Ethan said.

Ethan struggled to get back up as Moka and Tsukune held each other tightly. Ethan managed to look behind them and, subconsciously, smiled at the two.

" _Wow, guess life threatening situations do bring people closer together."_ He thought.

"Tsukune, don't worry, we'll be alright." She said, trying to reassure Tsukune and, truthfully, herself.

Tsukune smiled at her. "Of course." He said. He held a hand To Moka's face. "We still got a few years of high school to go, so… we…" she soon started losing consciousness, causing his hand to slip from her face and, accidently, catching onto her rosary, which snapped off easily.

As soon as that happened, A bright aura began to build up around Moka much to her shock.

"The rosary… came off?" she asked herself in disbelief. As the sky turned red and the ocean purple, from the moon a swarm of bats came down and covered her completely, her form changing from underneath.

" **No way… it can't be true.** " Saizou said.

As the bats instantly dispersed, the person that had been underneath had been completely changed. Her once pink hair was as silver as Ethan's, her green eyes were now crimson, which would send a chill down the spine of anyone who looked. She had grown in height slightly and her curves had become much more defined. As she stood there, Saizou was unable to move. Tsukune woke up again and stared in disbelief, unsure of what to make of this girl before them, while Ethan looked at the vampire with a confident expression.

"So, it was you who released me from the seal." She stated in a much more mature, staring at Saizou, thinking her release was his doing.

"Oh boy, she looks annoyed." Ethan said under his breath.

Saizou was debating what to do was the new Moka started stretching and jogging on the spot, trying to adjust to her form. Saizou had decided to attack, hoping he would be considered invincible if he took her down. As he charged towards her, she glared at him.

"It's time for you to know your place." She said confidently. When he was close enough, she kicked him in the face. There was so much force behind the attack that he was launched back and crashing into the side of the cliff.

Saizou laid there, unable to move. However, he did say "Okay, I give."

The new Moka grinned and turned her attention to Tsukune and Ethan, both of whom were staring in awe at her power. She gave them a confident, but reassuring smile. Tsukune managed to get back onto his feet. However, he soon collapsed. Moka rushed up to his and held on to him, deciding to let him rest on her until he recovered. She then looked over to Ethan.

"I assume you're this boy's ally?" she asked.

"That I am. Nice kick, by the way." He said.

They both stayed silent as they stared at Tsukune in silence.

….

Soon Tsukune woke from his slumber, seeing Ethan and the first Moka looking at him. When they realised he was okay, Ethan sighed with relief while Moka smiled.

"Moka? Ethan? Was… was all that a dream?" he asked.

"If you mean Saizou attacking us and the silver-haired Moka kicking him into oblivion, no." Ethan answered.

Tsukune was soon staring at Moka. He wasn't sure which one was the real Moka, afraid what to think. He was soon brought out of his thoughts when Ethan started speaking.

"Hey, Tsukune. Just to let you know, I checked the bus schedule while you were out; it won't be back for another month." He said, catching the recovering boy's attention.

"WHAT!? REALLY!?" he asked, unsure of what to make of the situation.

Moka instantly hugged him. "Thank god you're okay." When she released him, she noticed that he was bleeding from his cheek, she got another handkerchief and wiped his face clean, only for her to become intoxicated with the scent of his blood again.

"Uh, Moka I-" before Tsukune was finished, she lept onto him and started to drink his blood again.

"So…good." She moaned. Tsukune, on the other hand, was screaming his head off.

Ethan couldn't help but laugh at the situation. He then looked at the school and began to wonder. For some reason, he possessed abilities that no normal human could have. If he was going to learn more about them, he decided it would be best to get as much info as possible here.

" _Guess I've got no better place to learn at the moment._ " he thought before observing Tsukune and Moka again.

When Tsukune was free from Moka's fangs, he looked at the girl again, taking in her beauty and cheerfulness. He never felt this happy before in his life, despite having less blood in his system. Moka then grabbed onto Ethan and pulled them all into a big group hug. While Ethan was uncomfortable, Tsukune couldn't help but be over the moon.

" _Maybe there's a reason for sticking around after all."_ Tsukune thought.

 **[Hi everyone. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I decided to add a spin on Ethan's origins, thinking that a bit of variety wouldn't hurt. Also, I decided that Moka/Ura wouldn't be the only one to fight the villains in the story, it's not really fair that she has to do all the work. Anyway, if you have some thoughts on the story, or any questions, feel free to say them in the reviews. Hoe to see you soon.]**

 **FrankDaNoob102, to answer your question, I'm not sure about the OC pairing yet. You'll have to wait and see, but I promise not to disappoint.**


	3. Charmed and Dangerous

A week after the battle against Saizou, Tsukune, Moka and Ethan all tried their best to keep a low profile. None of them, especially Moka due to her shy nature, weren't keen on being the center of attention. However, that proved to be impossible.

The one thing Ethan hated most about schools, the fact that students could never keep a secret as a mass group.

Within the week, there wasn't a single person who hasn't heard about their victory over the orc. However, since there were so many people talking about the fight, it also caused a couple of mix ups in the rumors. The main mix up being the funniest of all (to Ethan anyway).

Tsukune's alarm clock when off at around 7:30, giving him enough time to get ready, but still left him mentally exhausted. As he made his way over to the dormitory bathroom, he noticed how all the other boys in the dorm were all out in their monster forms.

Since Yokai Academy was a boarding school, it had dormitories for its students, both the girl and boys dorms providing a room for each student. This was especially fortunate for Tsukune and Ethan, who couldn't risk being found out to be human by anyone. Sharing a room with anyone would've made it more difficult for them to keep their secret.

As Tsukune made it to the bathroom, he saw all the other male students talking with each other. They all accidently changed into their monster forms during the night, but didn't bother to change back yet, deciding to have a little fun freedom before they started class.

As Tsukune was brushing his teeth, he couldn't help but think about a certain pink-haired vampiress. After they had made up for their argument last week, the two were very close. A lot of the other males in the school were pretty jealous over their relationship, but neither cared. In fact, the only person who was happy for them was Ethan, commenting once that under his wimpy exterior, he might just be a true ladies man.

After getting over his feeling and dignity being shattered into a million pieces, he thanked him.

After Tsukune finished getting cleaned up, he went back to his room, got into his uniform and made his way over to the main school building. When he arrived at the front door, however, he was surprised to see Ethan walking out of the school building with a guitar case on his back.

"Hey, Ethan!" Tsukune called.

Ethan seemed to hear him as he looked up to see Tsukune, giving him a nod. "Morning. What's the story?" he asked.

"Not much, I just left the dorms. I know we don't have classes for a bit, but I thought I'd have a walk around the school, you know, to get some exercise." Tsukune answered back.

Ethan walked up to Tsukune's side, lifted one of his arms and let it drop. "The sooner you get some exercise the better. You might actually do well in P.E. that way." Ethan said.

Tsukune sighed. "Just once… would you quit with the corny jokes about me?"

Ethan paused for a moment. "Alright. For today, I'll give it up. But don't deprive me of my entertainment forever." He said.

Tsukune nodded in genuine gratitude, before looking at the guitar case.

"What's with the guitar? You taking music classes?" Tsukune asked.

"Um…" Ethan started. He looked around to make sure that no one was listening. When he was sure, he spoke directly into Tsukune's ear. "It's not a guitar. I was called to the Headmaster's office yesterday. He knows about us."

This caused Tsukune to panic slightly. "H-h-h-h-h-how did he know?" he asked.

"He said he knew since we signed up. And yet, for some reason, he's letting us stay here. Pretty weird, huh?"

"Weird? Try freaking confusing. Why would he let us stay here?" Tsukune asked.

Ethan thought for a moment before coming up with a theory. "This is a school for monsters to understand humanity better, right? Maybe he thought that by having us a representatives, it would help to fix the damaged relationship between our two races."

Ethan then straightened himself up. "Might work. Or it could end with us being skewered alive. Thoughts?"

Tsukune looked at him with a dead-panned look. "Well… at least you considered a bright side." Then Tsukune remembered the case. "But what does that have to do with the guitar case?"

Ethan looked over his shoulder. "Oh, this? It's actually a-"

"Oh my god, look you it is!" came the voice of one teenager. A group of them followed suit in his hyper mood. Ethan and Tsukune looked at them before checking to see what the source of their attention was. Ethan sighed.

"Can't say I'm surprised" he said to himself.

All the other boys of the school soon started to gather when Moka made her appearance. Every one of them were practically drooling as they were looking at her in detail. Some of them couldn't help but speak their mind.

"Wow, It's Moka Akashiya, the hottest girl in the whole school!" Said one.

"I hear that she's both beautiful and smart. She's got the full package." Said another.

Moka was soon staring in their direction. She became increasingly positive and ran towards them. They all screamed with joy at the prospects of her coming their way. However, it was short-lived, as she ran past them and tackled Tsukune into the ground.

"Tsukune! It's great to see you!" Moka said.

"Uh, yeah, likewise." He said back to her. He looked behind her and saw all the males now glaring with envy and hatred. They were jealous at the fact that Tsukune, a person with no redeeming features other than his good nature, managed to become friends with the school's number one beauty.

They were about to say something when their eyes caught Ethan's which were striking them with a stare made of steel and ice. Immediately, they coward at the sight of him and backed off. Ethan turned away from them and made his way over to the two teens now sprawled across the floor.

"You two having fun?" he asked.

Moka and Tsukune perked up when they heard his voice. They looked up at him and both smiled. However, they also soon realised the position they were in. They got back up and greeted him.

"How are you this morning?" Moka asked.

"Pretty good, thanks." Ethan replied. He looked down at his watch briefly before looking back at them. "We still got time before class starts, you want to look around a bit more?"

Tsukune nodded. They both waited for Moka's response. However, when they saw her, she seemed a little… distracted. She was soon staring into Tsukune's eyes. Tsukune, for the life of him, couldn't help but look back. Ethan couldn't help but notice that each had a sparkle in their eyes that grew the longer they gazed at each other.

"Oh Tsukune…" Moka said softly.

"Oh Moka…" Tsukune replied in the same manner.

" _Oh fecking hell._ " Ethan couldn't help but think. Not a big fan of romance, he turned around in the opposite direction and waited until they were done.

" _Do they really have to act all lovey-dovey in public like that? I swear this is going to get old rea-"_

"AAAAAAAAGH!" came Tsukune's voice.

Ethan turned and saw that it was, indeed, Tsukune screaming from, not all too surprising, Moka helping herself to some more of Tsukune's blood. Ethan had to try his best not to laugh at the situation the poor bot was in.

When Moka was finished, Tsukune backed away while Ethan stepped right beside her. Ethan allowed himself a grin. "I see you've had your fill Moka. Isn't Tsukune just wonderful for letting you drink his blood?"

Moka wasn't really paying attention. She was still savouring the taste of her friends crimson liquid for a little longer. However, when she snapped back to reality, the first thing she saw was Tsukune looking at her with disbelief and fear.

"MOKA WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING, QUIT DRINKING FROM ME LIKE A JUICE BOX!" he roared as he ran off in the opposite direction from the vampiress. Moka was left standing by herself, confused by what had happened. She turned back to Ethan, whose face, previously contorted by potential laughter, was now as blank as a sheet of paper.

"Ethan?" Moka walked up to him. "Did… did I do something mean?" she asked.

Ethan pondered on what to say for a moment before speaking. "Moka. We, uh… I think we need to talk."

…

Despite Tsukune's weak athleticism, he managed to cover a great distance from where he had started running. When he stopped, he looked around and saw that he was actually beside a lake.

"I wonder if this is the lake Ethan said he would go to during the evenings?" Tsukune said to himself. He stared into the clear water, lost in thought on what has happened so far. He was one of two humans attending a school for monsters that would kill him on sight if he was found out. To add to that, since the incident with Saizou, he was afraid that someone with the school might try to pick a fight with him.

He soon started to shiver at the thought of many… unpleasant results from all this. He felt like he was on his own with this one. True he had Ethan, obviously the tougher of the two, but he seemed more interested a laughing at Tsukune's misery. While there was also Moka, he didn't like how she would always latch onto his neck whenever she could.

"What am I going to do?" he moaned to himself. He was about to collapse to the ground with frustration when a certain sound caught his ears.

"H-help… help me…" came a female voice.

Tsukune looked around, unsure of where the voice came from. He searched all over the area until, out of luck, he saw someone resting up against an old tree. Tsukune ran to her, only to be stunned by what he saw.

The female of question looked around Tsukune's age. She had short, blue hair, part of it tied into a bun, amethyst coloured eyes and a heart-shaped face. She was wearing another version of the school uniform. Instead of the jacket, she wore a bright, yellow sweater-vest and wore socks that covered the lower half of her calves. Tsukune couldn't help but think she was really pretty.

He quickly snapped back into reality, however, as he remembered that she was in trouble. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked.

Through a pained face, she managed to speak. "No… it hurts… it hurts so bad." She managed to say.

Tsukune tried to help her up, but she kept falling back onto the ground. He had to resort to wrapping his arms around her and hugging her close to him. This resulted in Tsukune being put in a very uncomfortable position, as her chest was being pressed directly up against his own.

" _Oh crap! It feels so good… but if either Moka or Ethan hear about this, I'm a dead man!_ " Tsukune thought, he felt his face become redder and blood starting to build up in his nose.

The girl saw his discomfort. "Huh? Are you okay, Tsukune?" she asked.

Uh… yeah, yeah I'm fine, it's just-" He stopped mid-sentence when he realized something. "Wait, how do you know my name!?" he asked.

"We're in the same class together, remember? I sit one row behind you. I guess you had to focus on your schoolwork." She said. She was so feint with her speech, however, it was difficult for Tsukune to hear her.

"Oh, right, sorry. How are you feeling now?" Tsukune scanned her again, noticing how she was moving uncomfortably.

"I… I still feel pain… in my chest." She said, still pressing her chest against his. Tsukune tried his best to ignore it, focusing on her eyes.

"We'll get you to the nurse as soon as possible, don't worry." The boy said, trying to sound confident.

Soon, the bluenette's face changed, from that of pain to a menacing leer. "Oh… you are so brave, aren't you… you and that boy, Ethan." She said. As she was speaking, a wave of energy emitted from her eyes, hitting Tsukune in the eyes as well. In that moment, Tsukune suddenly became incredibly drowsy. He lost concentration, the only thing seeming to get through to him was the girl's voice.

" _ **My name is Kurumu Kurono… let's be together, you handsome boy.**_ " The girl, now named Kurumu, said to him.

Through his hazy state, he smiled at her and nodded in agreement.

"I… I'd like that… let's hang out." Tsukune said, the bluenette looking at him with a mix of lust and killer intent.

…

Ethan brought Moka up to the roof after the first class. There, he explained Tsukune's dissatisfaction with Moka constantly drinking his blood. He tried to be as sensitive as possible, but he could tell that he was upsetting the vampire as he spoke, making her feel guilty over her actions.

Ethan sighed as he was about to finish. "Moka, I'm sorry. But the thing is you need to control your urges. The fact of the matter, plain and simple, you can't be drinking from him all the time, not without his permission, at least."

"I know, it's just… I can't help it. Ethan, you know how much you both mean to me as friends, and I don't want to do anything to harm that." She said.

Ethan nodded in understanding. "So, what're you going to do?" he asked.

Moka started into the distance and held her rosary tight in her hands. "I'm going to apologise to Tsukune." She said before making her way down the stairs.

Ethan watched her run off, glad to see that she understands the situation now. He walked over to the railing and leaned against it, allowing himself to be lost in thought. Surprisingly, he found the main thing that he was thinking about was actually Moka's inner form, her vampiric form. Seeing the display of pure power had managed to send a chill down the teen's spine when he first saw her.

"Just how the hell does she have that power, anyway?" he said out loud. He looked back to the guitar case on his back.

" _Can I control what I have with this?_ " he thought to himself. He looked around, checking to see if there wasn't anything or anyone in the vicinity. When he was sure he was alone, he placed the case on the ground and opened the case. He gazed into the inside of the case before taking out what was inside. In his hand, he now held-

An old, wooden staff.

He tested the weight before spinning it a couple of times in his hand. He looked at the top end of the old weapon, observing a pentagram carved into the staff. He took in a deep breath, looked at the staff for a brief moment before placing it back in the case.

"What the hell am I thinking? How's a piece of wood going to help me?" he said out loud to himself. He slung the case on his back before going down the stairs himself.

…

As Ethan walked through the hallways, he noticed something different. Normally, he'd hear comments about Moka and her looks as well jealous comments about Tsukune. Instead, however, he was hearing someone else's name instead.

"Hey, did you guys notice Kurumu today?" She was looking hot!" said one of them.

"I know, I think she looked my way and winked at me. It was the best thing ever!" said another.

The comments went on like that. Ethan couldn't be bothered to listen to the… lonely teens (for lack of a cleaner expression), and continued on his way. However, he did recognise the name.

"Kurumu… the blue-haired girl in our class? Why are they talking about her?" he wondered out loud.

"Ethan!" came Moka's voice.

Ethan was knocked from his thoughts as he heard his friend's voice. As she came his way, he noticed something was troubling her.

"What's wrong? Did you talk to Tsukune yet?" he asked.

Moka lowered her head, a sad expression appearing on her voice. "Well… I tried, but…" she had begun hesitating.

Ethan's face became sterner. "Moka. What happened?"

She looked up. "Tsukune had started to hang out with that girl, Kurumu. She's always clinging to him and trying to push Tsukune away from him. When I tried talking to him he… he said he didn't want to be with me because he thinks I only see him as food."

This surprised Ethan. While her blood-sucking was a pain in the backside for him, that's never been a strong enough reason to quit being with her. He eejit couldn't leave her even if he wanted to.

"That's pretty weird of Tsukune." He said. He pondered for a moment before an idea came to mind. "Do you think the bluebird had something to do with it?"

"First of all, I'm not sure that's an appropriate term. Second, if she is, how?" Moka said.

"I'LL TELL YOU HOW!" came a voice above them.

Ethan and Moka looked up to see the girl Kurumu sitting on the rails of the stair case above them. Ethan looked at her with caution, his hand, involuntarily, reaching for the staff, while Moka looked at her with surprise. Kurumu jumped down from the rail and landed quite close to Moka. When she got her balance back, she pointed directly at Moka.

"Moka Akashiya, I am declaring WAR on you!" Kurumu exclaimed.

Ethan and Moka looked at her in confusion. Ethan shook his head while Moka tilted hers.

"War? What do you mean?" asked the vampiress.

"Every guy in this school has never once taken their eyes off of you. Do you realize how many guys are drooling over you and not paying attention to me? Do You!?" Kurumu vented.

"Well if we did, I'd have probably castrated them all by now." Ethan said honestly, getting a look of astonishment from his friend.

"That's why I'm on a mission to get all the boys to like me, ending your reign in this school once and for all!" Kurumu explained. She brushed her hair back. "It's shockingly easy, since I'm a succubus, after all."

"A what now?" Ethan asked.

Moka gasped. "A monster that has the ability to charm men and steal their energy." She said, taking a step back.

"That's right. I've got all the boys, even your precious juice-box of a friend of yours. You can't beat me, Akashiya!" she said.

Ethan clicked his fingers. "It was Kurumu! I should've bet money on it!"

Kurumu looked at Ethan briefly. Her eyes scanned up and down his form, her eyes narrowing.

"Something I can help you with?" Ethan asked.

His answer from Kurumu was her briskly turning around and walking away from him. "Sorry, you're not my type." She said.

As soon as she said that, all the boys surrounding them wither were thanking her or laughing at Ethan.

"Wow, she does care for us!" One of then said.

"Looks like the mighty queen of beauty has no interest in brutes, huh?" another asked.

Soon all of the guys were laughing at Ethan. Moka was having trouble with holding in her rage. She didn't like that they were making fun of one of her friends like that. She was about to speak when Ethan interjected.

"You're not interested because your "Charm" won't work on me. Right?" he said.

That caused Kurumu to freeze as well as the other boys to look at him in confusion. Ethan continued. "The love charm ability that causes any man to look in your eyes to become boundlessly infatuated with you." He said. Seeing how he was on a roll, he continued.

"That's how you've got everyone drooling for you now. Since they were all focused on Moka, you cheated and used your power. You say your not into me, that's fine with me.

"Ethan turned around himself before saying one last thing. "I have no interest in those who rely on cheap tricks to get what they want."

This caused an up roar from all the males in the hallway, some one them throwing anything they could find. However, as he was not one to back away when someone tries to attack in any form, he turned back and gave them all an intense glare, his eyes glowing ember once again. Everyone fell silent, some of them even wetting themselves. Both Ethan and Moka made their escape, leaving Kurumu to continue facing away from them, lost in her own thoughts.

" _He knew about my charm? Impossible. He couldn't have known. That could only be the only reason he was able to resist, he was prepared._ " She thought. Her face soon changed from a look of shock to anger. She turned around and started to go the same route as Moka and Ethan.

"I won't let either of them ruin my plan." She said, murder present in her eyes.

…

The two eventually found Tsukune, who seemed to be exhausted from running around the school. He apologised for his behavior towards Moka, unsure of why he said it, but sure that he didn't want to stop being her friend. Ethan chuckled, causing the other two look at him.

"Great to see you're taking responsibility, Tsukune. But, you're not to blame here." He said.

Tsukune looked at him in confusion. "What? How am I not to blame?"

Moka came into the conversation at this point. "Kurumu's a succubus, she can manipulate men into doing whatever she wants. She's been charming all the boys in school for some reason."

Ethan rubbed the back of his head. "Thank god too. If I heard that a succubus was putting all her effort into just seducing you, I'd be afraid someone would've killed you and replaced you with someone who can actually land a girl."

This caused Tsukune to look crest-fallen. "I thought you said you'd give that a break." He said weakly.

"Letting yourself get hypnotised into a girls boyfriend gives me immediate right to make fun of you, no exceptions." Ethan said with a serious expression, bringing a smile back onto his face.

"YOU JUST MADE THAT UP!" Tsukune roared.

"So?" Ethan said.

Moka couldn't help but laugh at the antics of the two. Tsukune's bumbling actions while Ethan, the calm, cool and collected one, would be there to support him, then joke about him. For some reason, she couldn't stop laughing. The two male teens looked at her in confusion.

"What?" they asked simultaneously.

"Nothing. It's nothing, sorry." She said when she was finished. Tsukune and Ethan looked at each other in confusion. Ethan was about to say something When he saw Tsukune look like he had seen a ghost. He looked back only to see a window shattering and a pointed object going right past his face. He looked back and saw the object, which was actually a tail, wrap itself around Tsukune's neck. It yanked him towards the window with great force, knocking Ethan over.

"OH NO!" Moka yelled as she ran to the window. She looked out and saw that what had captured Tsukune was actually Kurumu, only she had large bat wings sticking out of her back and a tail sticking out from under her skirt, which was holding Tsukune hostage.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Moka yelled out to Tsukune, leaping out the window with as much force as she could. She landed on the ground and ran towards her friend with as much force as possible. When she was close enough, she put as much force into her legs as possible as she launched herself into the air, grabbing onto Tsukune's waist.

"Don't worry, I got you." Moka said.

They all continued to fly towards the forest. However, the strain of carrying two people was getting to her, forcing her to release her hostage and let them fall into the forest. After they landed, feeling sore from the impact, they got back onto their feet. They looked up at Kurumu.

"Don't think we're going to let you get away with this." Moka said, determination present in her voice.

"Like I have a choice!" Kurumu yelled. This caused slight confusion to form in Moka and Tsukune.

"We succubi are going extinct. I won't let that happen. That's why I charmed the school, in hopes of finding my destined one! Because of you, I wasn't able to find him, so now I'm going to end you!" she yelled before flying at the two at rocket speed.

Tsukune and Moka prepared to move when they saw something fly over them from behind, striking Kurumu in her forehead and causing her to fly backwards. The object fell to the ground and clattered against the stone ground upon impact.

"What was that?" Tsukune asked, observing an old, wooden staff now lying on the ground.

"A gift from the Chairman." Came a familiar voice behind them. They turned and saw Ethan slowly walking up to them.

"Didn't think to wait up, aye?" He asked.

Moka looked embarrassed for a moment. She was about to apologise when Ethan raised his hand. "Remember what I said at the balcony?"

Moka suddenly remembered his words and gave him a nod, turning back and looking at the wooden staff. She picked it up and handed it to Ethan. "Is this yours?"

Ethan took the staff back off her. "Yep. The headmaster somehow knew about that strength I used against Saizou. So he gave me this." He said, holding up the staff into the air.

"What's it suppose to do?" Tsukune asked.

"One, help me control my power without burning myself out too quickly. The only problem is I don't know how to use it yet" He said.

"And second?" Tsukune asked.

However, before Ethan could answer, he saw Kurumu zooming back towards them, her fingernail extending to claws as she prepared to strike. Ethan ran in front of the group and held up the staff in defense. As the claws struck the staff, all were amazed to see that the nails didn't even make a dent on the old weapon.

While her claws were still on the staff, Ethan grinned as he brought the staff to one side, bringing Kurumu with it, creating an opening which he used, kicking Kurumu in the stomach. As Kurumu gasped for breath, Ethan brought back the staff and, channelling as much energy as he could into the staff, swung it into Kurumu's side, causing her to fly back.

Ethan quickly looked back at Tsukune and Moka. "I won't be able to hold her off forever. Bring the other Moka out." He said. He turned back to see Kurumu flying back towards him with a furious look.

"He's right. We've got to bring her out." Tsukune said.

Moka held out her rosary to Tsukune. "Tsukune, quick, take it off. You're the only one who was able to, so please do it." She said.

Tsukune grabbed onto the rosary and pulled as hard as he could. But for some reason, the rosary stayed on. Tsukune yanked it a few more times, having difficulty in removing the relic.

"What's going on, it won't come off!" Tsukune said. For some reason, the rosary wasn't coming lose as it had before.

"WHAT'S THE FECKING HOLD UP!" Ethan roared.

Moka and Tsukune looked back. Ethan seemed to be faring well against the succubus, avoiding her attacks with surprising agility, but every time he tried to attack with the staff, Kurumu would avoid it easily. Ethan seemed to become even more agitated when he missed, not being used to being on the losing side of a fight.

Kurumu cackled as she soared high into the air. "What's wrong, tough guy? Having trouble fighting against a girl?" she asked sarcastically. Ethan kept a straight face, but he was starting to get annoyed by her words.

"Do you want to know the real reason I didn't find you interesting? I heard rumours that you took on an orc in human form and almost won. I never heard such crap before in my life. Anyone saying they can fight a monster like that are nothing but liars, not even worth looking at!" she said as she flew high in the air.

Ethan tried to stay calm, but her words were annoying him greatly. He readied himself as she started zooming towards him again.

"YOU'RE NOT EVEN MAN ENOUGH TO PROTECT THOSE PATHETIC FRIENDS OF YOURS!" she roared.

After hearing those words, Ethan froze. Time seemed to slow down as the memories of that night flooded back into his mind.

 _(Flashback)_

 _Ethan ran through the hotel, screaming for his mother and father. As he ran, he felt the flames burning his skin, causing serious damage. He couldn't have cared less. As long as he found his parents, nothing else mattered._

 _He ran past one room, he heard someone screaming inside. He stopped and went to check what was inside. Much to his horror, he saw a man, another one of the parents he guessed, trapped under a damaged beam. The man looked up and saw the boy and panicked._

" _What are you doing? Get out, you'll be killed!" he said._

 _His words, however, fell on deaf ears as Ethan ran to him. He went up to the beam and tried lift the object. He wasn't nearly strong enough and he felt the embers in the beam searing into his skin. He tried hard, but he wasn't able to lift the object._

 _The man kept yelling at him, but Ethan kept ignoring him. The man reached out his arm and grabbed the back of Ethan's shirt and threw him away from the beam._

" _GOOOO!" the man yelled. As he did, some more debris came down from the ceiling, landing directly onto the man's head, crushing it beneath the material._

 _Ethan could only just look at the man's gruesome death. He was unable to move, trauma overcoming him as guilt and horror filled within him. Tears began to build up in his eyes as he began to break down._

" _What's… what's happening? Why couldn't I save him?" he asked himself._

 _As the flames around him began to intensify, his fear overcame him and he cried loudly._

 _(Flashback end)_

Ethan was brought back into reality. Time still seemed to slow as he looked out to Kurumu, his eyes seeing her claws coming her way. The closer they got, he slowly lost himself to his anger. With unnatural reflexes, he dodged the attack, spun himself around and struck her in her stomach with his foot, unleashing his strength to send her flying further into the forest. She was sent through a number of different trees, each one snapping like a bone in her body each time she crashed into a tree. After the seventh tree, she slammed up against another, unable to move.

Tsukune and Moka looked at the spectacle they had seen before them. When it was finished, they looked at Ethan with complete awe. He turned to them with a serious expression.

"Take this as a warning. Never piss me off." He simply said.

The two teens gulped and nodded briskly at him. Ethan then brought his attention back to Kurumu, causing his anger to rise again. Readying his staff, he slowly walked over to the girl. When she saw him, she tried to move, but yelped in pain as she did so, feeling immense pain in her ribs, one of her arms and her wings.

"Guess you didn't think I could break your bones in one hit, huh?" Ethan said.

The sound of his voice made Kurumu go cold with fear. She saw his face when he was close enough, she saw his eyes filled with anger while he wore a sadistic smile. He raised his staff up high into the air.

"You were right about one thing, Kurumu. I was too weak to protect anyone. But now… I'll make sure you never hurt anyone again." He said as his eyes glowed again. He roared as he was about to strike, causing Kurumu to scream, when he was stopped.

"ETHAN, STOP IT!" Tsukune yelled.

Surprised by this, Ethan turned around and saw Tsukune standing right behind him. Ethan glared at him, but Tsukune stood strong.

"Stop? Really? You expect me to let her off the hook after what she did? After what she said?" Ethan asked, his tone becoming much darker the more he spoke.

"You heard her, she was only doing what she did because her species was dying out. I know she made a bad choice but she was only trying to help. If I was in trouble, what would you do just to save me?" Tsukune said.

This caused Ethan to pause. Tsukune kept going.

"I know what she said to you was too far as well, but she doesn't know about that night. She seemed angry as well, she was just venting out, some you and I would've done if we were just as mad. Please, Ethan."

Ethan's grip on the staff tightened as he looked back at Kurumu. After a second, he started gritting his teeth. AS roared as he lifted the staff into the air.

"ETHAN!" Tsukune roared.

Ethan launched the staff like a javelin at Kurumu, causing her to scream again. She closed his eyes, waiting for the end to come. She heard the staff strike something, as well as sinking into the object it struck. She opened her eyes and looked around, seeing the Staff impaled into the tree, just inches above her head. She looked in front of her and saw Ethan walk up to her, only for him to yank the staff out of the tree. He looked at her with a calm expression and pointed at Tsukune.

"Be thankful to him." He said, causing Kurumu to look surprised. "He has the ability to see the good in anyone… and I guess he saw something in you. So I'm going to give you a chance as well."

He knelt in front of her, not breaking eye contact with her.

"But don't you dare… say that to me again." He said calmly.

Kurumu solely nodded in response. Ethan stood up and turned back to his friends.

Leaving the succubus to stare at Tsukune, the boy that actually saved her life.

…..

"How's Ethan holding up?" Moka asked.

A couple of days after what happened with Kurumu, all the males were freed from her charm. Kurumu gave them all a public apology, feeling true regret for what she had done. However, everyone forgave her on the spot, knowing about the situation about the succubi… that and the males were still infatuated with her even after the charm. Though that still didn't stop them from loving Moka as well.

Ethan was the only one who was still angry at Kurumu, deciding to avoid the masses until he cooled off from what had happened in the forest.

"Well… I saw him punching a tree into pieces so... he's actually a bit better." Tsukune replied.

"What happened to him back there?" Moka asked.

"Kurumu said something that reminded him of the night he lost his parents in a fire." Tsukune said.

This caused Moka to gasp, having remembered what Ethan told her about his parents. Tsukune also sighed. "He's in a lot more pain than he's letting on. It's a miracle he was able to open up to anyone, ever mind me."

Moka grasped his rosary, the thought of her own family getting hurt coming to mind, imagining what would happen if she lost the people important to her. She then looked at Tsukune with a smile. "You really look out for him, don't you?" she asked.

Tsukune nodded. "Yeah." He then looked at Moka with a fearful expression. "Please don't tell him I said that!"

This caused Moka to giggle.

"Hi guys." Came a voice from behind.

Tsukune and Moka turned around and, much to their surprise and worry, saw Kurumu with a smile on her face and a box of cookies in her hands.

"I wanted to apologise to you both directly for what I did. I made you some cookies for you all to enjoy." She said, holing out the box of treats.

"Wow, thanks Kurumu." Tsukune said gratefully. He took the box and held it out for them all to enjoy. They all loved them.

"So, Kurumu, you still going to look for your destined one?" Moka asked.

Kurumu's small turned into a cheery grin. "Actually, I don't need to keep looking for him." She said, causing the other two to look at her in confusion. Her attention was now on Tsukune. "I don't need to keep looking because I found my destined one."

She went up to Tsukune and held his left hand with both of hers. "I decided it's you, Tsukune."

"…. What?" he asked.

"When Ethan was about to strike me down, you stepped in and saved me, even though you could've been hurt. Even after all that happened, you believed that there was good in me. Never before have I seen a man with such bravery, and I promise not to let your belief go to waste. I'll prove my love to you" She said, her eyes sparkling with an unusually pure look in her eyes.

Tsukune blushed at her attempt, but then he was knocked out of his state when he felt his other arm being pulled. The box he was holding fell onto the ground, luckily the cookies were all eaten already. Kurumu saw Moka trying to pull him away, so she fought back, pulling Tsukune to her side.

"Don't even think about it, Kurumu, Tsukune belongs to me!" she said unconsciously.

"Don't think I'll give up that easily, you blood-sucking harlot!" Kurumu said back.

Tsukune, on the other hand, stayed silent. He was having difficulty registering that two beautiful were literally fighting over him. If he wasn't so overcome with shock, he'd probably be smiling like an idiot.

"No, I won't lose Tsukune!" Moka said, soon leaping onto Tsukune and biting onto his neck and causing Tsukune to scream again.

Unknown to any of them, however, Ethan had been standing at a far distance from them observing the group. When he saw Tsukune being fought over by the girls, he shook his head with a smile on his face.

"I'd be jealous… if I didn't feel sorry for you." He said. He turned around and made his way back to the school.

In the guitar case he continued to carry, the staff began to glow a similar shade of ember as Ethan's eyes when using his power, the pentagram turning scarlet and, surprisingly, a shard of a blade slowly emerging from the weapon.

 **[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND… I'M DONE! Sorry that it took so long. I've been having great difficulty trying to find a good way to implement Ethan into this part of the story. I think it might get easier in future chapters, but we'll have to see. Also, in case anyone asks, I didn't include inner Moka in the fight against Kurumu here because I wanted show Ethan's vicious side in this chapter. That won't mean She won't be coming back, she's the most badass person in the series, after all. Anyway, that's all for now. Hope to see you soon, and don't forget to review to give your opinions.]**

 **ClyxicRyse: I'm not sure about pairing Ethan up with Mizore, but, truth be told, it's not a bad idea all the same, something to ponder on. Thank you very much for your suggestion.**


	4. Lonely no longer

Tsukune was having surprising difficulty with his school life at the moment. And that's just putting it lightly.

After accidently enrolling into a school of monsters, one that would also kill him on sight if he was found out to be human, his life became crazier after befriending a vampiress with a split-personality disorder who loves the taste of his blood.

As if that wasn't enough, he how had a succubus fighting for his affections as much as possible, believing him to be her soulmate, not pleasing the vampiress one bit.

As well as that, with all the mayhem he has had to put up with, he was having difficulty doing any of his studies. This was reflected when the result of the mid-semester exam came out. On the board, displaying the results of ever first-year student ranked by how well they did, Tskune found his name close to the bottom.

" _Ugh, great. Even here, I'm not getting better in my tests._ " He thought to himself.

He brought himself out of his thoughts when he saw Moka at the other end of the board. Her an up to her, calling out to her. Upon hearing him, she turned in his direction and smiled.

"Good morning, Tsukune." She said cheerfully. They caught up with each other and began talking about their results. "How well did you do?"

Tsukune lowered his head. "Not great. But I guess it's something to learn from." He said weakly.

Moka smiled. "That's the spirit!" she said.

"Thanks. So, what did you get?" he asked.

Moka smiled. "I got 13th place. I guess I got lucky, huh?"

"Luck's got nothing to do with it."

Both Tsukune and Moka turned their heads to see Ethan coming their way. After coming to the academy, he had become a bit more of an open book compared to the anti-social grump that Tsukune had befriended previously. However, he had been seen falling back into that category again.

Moka looked concerned, but tried her best to look positive. "Hey, Ethan. How are you today?" she asked.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders in response. "Okay, I guess."

Tsukune walked up to him. "Hey, do you want to see how well you did in the test?"

Ethan looked at Tsukune for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and walking up to the board. Upon doing so, all the other students near the board backed away from him. His reputation had become something to be feared after hearing how he nearly killed Kurumu in cold blood, showing people he was something to be feared; it was quite ironic considering he was human.

Ethan scanned the board until he found his name. "Drake, Ethan… 3rd place."

Tsukune froze while Moka looked overjoyed. "That's AMAZING Ethan!" Moka said.

"Wow… tough in a fight and in the classroom." Tsukune said.

Ethan turned away from the board. He wasn't looking at his friends as he walked, but he continued to talk. "Thanks. Though I'd congratulate the person who got first place." He said.

Upon saying that, Both Moka and Tsukune looked up at the board and saw the first place name.

"Yukari Sendo…" Tsukune said, looking at the name in awe.

Moka perked up when seeing the name. "Oh, I think I heard about her." She then looked rather bashful. "Although the only thing I know about her is that she's pretty smart. I never really heard much more other than that."

Ethan stopped abruptly and turned around, his moody glare sticking to his face, but he showed a slight smirk, at least. "Well, truth be told, I don't know much about her either, so no need to feel bad." He said.

"I wonder what she's like?" Tsukune asked.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders again and walked off again, waving the back of his hand at his friends as he said he would see them later. The two friends looked at him for a moment, then at each other in concern.

"Do you really think he's okay?" Moka asked.

"No… but he will be. He was like this once before, though that was after he saw someone making fun of a guy back in our last school. He was pretty angry that people could be so mean to each other." Tsukune explained.

Moka looked back in Ethan's direction again, but he was already gone. She sighed to herself. "I hope he gets better soon."

As Tsukune was about to speak, he felt a couple of arms wrap around him from behind. He turned to see Kurumu clinging on to him.

"Morning, Tsukune. I hope you're well." She said. Tsukune smiled and freed himself from her grip. When he was free, Kurumu began to look a little nervous. "Say, uh… have you guys seen Ethan? I apologized to him earlier, but I still want to try and make things up to him. I said some pretty mean things and… well…" Kurumu suddenly had some difficulty going on with her speech.

Tsukune smiled. "It's okay, he's already forgiven you." He said.

This surprised Kurumu. "Really?" she asked.

Tsukune nodded. "Yeah, since he learned the reasons behind you charming the school, he decided to let it go. He had a bit of habit of running his mouth too quickly when he's angry too."

Kurumu sighed with relief. "Thank god." She said. But then she looked back at him in confusion.

"I thought that was what he was angry about." Moka said.

"Me too. So why's he angry?" Kurumu asked.

Tsukune giggled nervously before answering. "I, uh… I actually don't know."

….

Ethan sat on a bench with his guitar case on his lap. He kept it closed, but the image of the staff inside was still clear to him. He glared at the object, secretly wanting to smash the staff into pieces. He would've too, had the staff not been apparently indestructible.

"I'm supposed to be able use these freaking powers of mine with this thing?" he asked himself out loud. He paused for a moment, thinking back to when he got this staff.

 _(Flashback)_

" _So, you wanted to see me?" Ethan asked._

 _Ethan stood in a large office, illuminated by only a couple of candles on an office table. At the center of the desk, stood a man in white robes. His eyes were illuminating under the hood he wore._

" _ **Indeed I did. I heard about you're scuffle with Saizou Komiya. I am sorry you had to start the year with such hardship.**_ "

" _Hey, we were able to handle ourselves." Ethan said._

 _The headmaster, also called the chairman, nodded. "_ _ **Indeed. Although, I must say, I was surprised. A human with such strength is quite… uncommon.**_ _" He said._

 _At that, Ethan froze. He then glared at him. "How the hell do you know that?" he said, a hint of venom appearing in his voice._

" _ **I wouldn't be a very good headmaster if I didn't know the important information about my students. However, you have nothing to fear. If you wish, you may continue to go to school here. However…**_ _" the chairman lifted his hand into the air and, surprisingly to Ethan, a wooden staff appeared in his hand. He placed it on the table and took a step back. "_ _ **When you fought Saizou, you ran out of energy quite quickly. This staff will help you control your reserves.**_ _"_

 _Ethan looked back and forth between the headmaster and the staff. He slowly walked u to the staff as he asked his next question. "Does it do anything else?"_

 _The chairman grinned. "_ _ **It will also, once you learn how to use it, allow you to unlock your power.**_ _" He said._

 _Ethan took one more look at the staff before returning his stare to the n=man behind the desk, a smile forming on his face._

" _So long as you don't double cross me… I accept your gift"_

 _(Flashback end)_

Ethan's temper slowly rose as he remembered the image of the staff, He took in deep breaths as he tried to calm himself.

"Forget it. Just… forget it." He told himself. There was no point getting angry over this at the moment.

He got up, slung the case onto his back and walked up off. He walked around the campus for a bit, still annoyed at how he was having difficulty with his abilities. After learning that he had enough to take a tank head on, he thought he could get more use out of it. Instead, it was causing him more grief. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't forget about it.

As he entered the school, he heard a group of girls muttering to each other, one of them saying the name "Yukari Sendo" and "attacked". Catching his attention, he turned to them and tapped one of the girls on their shoulders. They all turned in his direction.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry for bothering you, but were you all talking about Yukari Sendo just now?" he asked.

One of the girls stepped forward, sporting short brown hair and green eyes. "Didn't you hear? The class representative and his friends attacked her. I think they were jealous that she got the highest mark in her year," she said.

Ethan frowned, but stayed calm. "Is she alright?" he asked.

The girl nodded. "Yes, Moka Akashiya saved her."

Another stepped forward with a happy expression on her face. "Isn't Moka Akashiya just brilliant? She's pretty, smart and she is willing to help those in trouble. I wish I could be more like her." She said, causing all the other girls to swoon. Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose from their silliness.

"Yeah… Moka does tend to think of others before herself." He said.

The girls stopped cold, jamming their faces right up to his. Ethan looked at them with confusion. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

"You know Moka!" one of them said.

"Is she as nice as people say?"

"How long have you known her?"

"What's her favourite food?"

Ethan couldn't help but smile at their eagerness. He answered the questions. "Yes, you couldn't meet a nicer person. I've only known her since the start of the year, but me and my friend got to know her pretty well since then. As for her favourite food… well I saAAAAAAAAAIE!"

Before Ethan could finish, he was pulled with incredible force by the neck of his jacket, causing the girls to look at them in shock. They all yelled with concern, but he didn't hear them. By the time the yanking stopped, Ethan whirled around with a low fist, aiming to give his kidnapper an uppercut, only to look in disbelief at who was responsible.

"TSUKUNE!?" he exclaimed.

Tsukune seemed rather flustered for some reason. "Ethan, hi, sorry to do that to you, but I needed to talk to you. Did you hear about Yukari Sendo?"

Ethan nodded in response. As he did, Tsukune continued to speak. "Well, the thing is… she's got a bit of an… obsession with Moka. After she saved her, she became more open about her… liking Moka."

Ethan looked at him in confusion. "Tsukune, come on. Every kid has someone they can look up to. I mean all the girls seem to love her nearly as much as the guys, only without the lust. So what's the real proble-oooh." Ethan said.

The last part of what he said confused Tsukune. However, he saw Ethan's confused and bewildered face look over behind him. Tsukune looked behind his shoulders to see what he was looking at, and was shocked by what he saw. Moka was walking down the hallway, her face as red as a cherry tomato, with a girl in a witches outfit clinging on to her… by her breast, of all places.

Ethan shifted his eyes towards Tsukune. "Ooookay. Now I get it."

"HEY, WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Tsukune roared.

The girl that was clinging onto Moka jumped off, much to the vampiress' relief, and looked towards the boys. Ethan could see that she seemed around 11 years old, had raven hair, purple eyes and wore a different variation to the school's uniform to suit the witch had and cape she wore. She also had a stick with a large heart on top.

"So… you're Ethan drake, huh? I must say, the rumours don't give you nearly the justice you deserve. Of course, being Moka's friend, I'm not surprised." The girl said.

Ethan shook off his shock and looked at the girl with a smirk. "Yukari Sendo… I didn't think you'd be so young. Fair juice to you for getting here, and the test as well." He said.

Yukari nodded. "Thank you. Although I must say. The only thing I am quite disappointed in is the fact that you're friends with him." Yukari said, pointing at Tsukune.

"What do you mean?" Tsukune asked, more confused than offended.

"You're grades and physical ability are rather poor, you have no hobbies and you seem to show no form of variety in your life. You are by far the most ordinary person I met." She said. Tsukune grinned upon hearing that.

"You are not worthy of being with Moka!" she stated, shattering Tsukune's new-found pride in himself. "That's why I will not allow you to harass my love anymore!"

Ethan was a bit surprised at her determination to be in a relationship with her, considering the age difference. However, he was more focused on the fact that her heart-shaped stick start to glow. He waved it into the air. "Magic Wand!" she yelled.

As soon as she said that, brooms and other cleaning utensils flew out of different cupboards in the area and flew towards Tsukune, all of them giving him a good beating. Moka was astonished, but Ethan remained passive. They all watched Tsukune as he was forced to run away.

"Well, it could've been worse." Ethan muttered.

"Oh, Tsukune." Moka said with concern as she ran off. As she did, Ethan focused his attention on the little witch, who still seemed dissatisfied.

"I don't know why she bothers to hang out with him." She said.

Ethan walked up to her and patted the girl on her hat, which surprised her.

"Tsukune's not as ordinary as you think. During the fight against Saizou, he put his life on the line to save Moka, nearly getting killed in the process. Plus, after what the girl Kurumu did to the school, it was a miracle Tsukune convinced me not to kill her. The guy, whather he admits it or not, will always look out for those who need saving… no matter what the cost."

Ethan walked off from the girl, but as he did, the staff illuminated in his bag, this time shining through the material. It surprised both him and the witch, who wasn't too far away from him. The glow lasted for more than 10 seconds before the light faded.

"What… what was that?" Yukari asked.

Ethan ignored her as he quickly took the staff out of the bag. He examined it carefully, concerned that there was something wrong with the staff. Yukari walked up to his side, curious about the object. A thought suddenly came into her mind, making her gasp.

"Are… are you a warlock?" she asked.

Ethan shook his head. "No. All I'll tell you is that I've got nearly as much muscle as a vampire, and this stupid staff is supposed to help me control my power. But I don't know how it works."

Yukari scanned the staff briefly, her eyes stopping when she noticed the pentagram on the top, causing her eyes to widen.

"It's a seal!" she exclaimed.

Ethan turned back to her. "A seal?"

"I don't think you can use the staff properly because it's true power has been sealed. See the pentagram? It was used as a way to lock away demonic or other dangerous power." She explained.

This caught Ethan's interest. "If that's so, do you know how it can be undone?"

Yukari hesitated. "Well, yeah, but… power that's been sealed with the pentagram is too dangerous to be unleashed. Sorry, but I don't think it'd be a good idea."

Ethan sighed with disappointment. Seeing Yukari's saddened face, however, he placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Sorry, don't mind me. I was getting pretty annoyed as to why I couldn't use the staff, that's all. If it's meant to be sealed, then so be It." He placed the staff back in the case. "Besides, it's still strong enough to beat up bullies with." He said with a mischievous smile, causing the witch to giggle.

Ethan stood back up and walked off, saying one last thing as he strode through the hallway. "Remember what I said about Tsukune. He may be naïve, but you couldn't meet a better person."

As Ethan walked off, Yukari was amazed that he held the ordinary boy in high regard. And, if what Ethan said was true, he must be a very caring person to risk his life like that. She looked at her own wand and pondered on the matter a bit more.

"Would he be friends with me after what I've done?" she said to herself.

As she was lost in thought, she didn't notice a green, scaly grab her from behind, causing her to drop her wand, unable to scream as another hand was clamped over her mouth.

" **Don't worry. We're not going to hurt you… not** _ **yet**_ **anyway.** " Came a snake-like voice from behind.

…..

"Yukari? As in Yukari Sendo?"

After the magic controlling the brooms faded, causing them to clatter to the ground, he went to the nurse's office. He was surprised to see Kurumu, who in turn seemed overjoyed to see Tsukune. She leaped on to him, causing them both to collapse onto the ground. It was a bit awkward when Moka came into the office to see them both on the ground the way they were. Kurumu wasted no time in telling her about them being in a new relationship, which Tsukune denied immediately.

Moka was about to react to this when she felt a hand on her shoulder, being none other than Ethan. At the sight of him, Kurumu released Tsukune and pushed herself away from the staff-wielding teen. Ethan briskly caught up with her and held out a hand to help her up. Grateful, but cautious, she accepted. She then gave her apology to Ethan.

His response was a small nod and a small smirk. Seeing this, Tsukune gave Kurumu a large grin and a thumbs up, signalling that Ethan's response was good for her. While the girls helped Tsukune with his minor injuries, Ethan filled her in on what happened with Yukari. Kurumu was surprised to hear her name and asked for clarification.

Ethan nodded to her. "The one and the same. She may be smart, but she seems a bit like a trouble-maker too." He admitted.

"You're right about that. Since Yukari started here, she played a lot of pranks on the students. It was partly for attention, but it was mainly out of revenge for everyone making fun of her. Honestly, I'm surprised she wasn't attacked sooner." Kurumu said.

Moka looked concerned. "I guess it can't be easy. Her race is closely associated with the humans. Plus, with the salem witch trials all those years ago, the humans don't seem to like them either." She said.

Tsukune widened hi eyes with shock upon hearing this, soon followed by letting his head hang. "I can't believe that they are hated so much like that." Tsukune said, his hands balling up into fists. "It's just so…"

"Criminal?" Ethan suggested, prompting a nod from Tsukune.

Ethan walked up to the office window and proceeded to stare at it. "That's the way of the world. Ladies and gentleman. Hate and prejudice is all too common." He then looked back at them briefly. "But that's where we kick in." he said, prompting confused looks from all present.

"This school may focus on teaching us how to adapt into human society, but it also helps us to understand humans better too. I reckon the day we stop hating each other and focus on trying to understand each other, there'll be no need for all this conflict anymore." He said.

Everyone was silent as he spoke, looking at him with slight awe at his determination. His belief in a world of peace, co-existence between the two worlds… as strange as it sounded to the girls, mostly to Kurumu, Moka grinned at his vision, While Tsukune sat smiling at him. As gloomy as he could be sometimes, he could be quite the optimist.

Ethan continued to stare out the window for another moment, pondering on what to do next. However, his peaceful expression changed to surprise, slowly morphing into anger as he pressed himself up against the window. Ethan whirled around and practically blasted out of the office, shocking Tsukune and the girls.

"What the… Ethan?" Tsukune called out, only to receive silence as an answer.

"Why did he rush off like that?" Moka asked.

Kurumu went up to the window he was looking out, wanting to know what set him off. She gasped when she saw the source. "Yukari's being kidnapped!"

"WHAT!?" Tsukune and Moka said simultaneously. They rushed up to the window to see Yukari being dragged off into the forest by a trio of males, all seemingly wanting to cause her harm.

"C'mon, we've got to stop them!" Moka said. As Tsukune and Kurumu nodded in agreement, they all rushed out the door to try and catch up with them. Unknown to any of them, however, on one of the beds laid a familiar guitar case.

….

Yukari was thrown back up against one of the trees in the forest. As she tried to get her breath back, she looked up into the eyes of the class representative, which seemed to be filled with murder. His two lackeys also had the same, deathly glare radiating towards the young witch. She was unable to move at first, her fear getting the best of her.

"Finally, at long last, we have you." Said the class rep.

"What're we going to do with her, boss?" said one of the followers.

The leader stayed silent for a moment, trying to think of a solution. He then smiled as he thought of a gruesome idea. "I say we just tear her apart and hang her corpse out for Akashiya to see, that'll teach her to meddle in our business."

"Alright! That's so sick!" said the other lackey.

Yukari shivered for a moment longer, before calming herself and readying her wand. She knew she couldn't just sit around and wait for them to attack her. She waved her wand around as quickly as she could. "Magic Wand!" she cried.

As soon as she said it, three water basins appeared out of thin air, each one rocketing and slamming onto a member of the group. It disoriented them for a bit; she thought see had time to run. However, as she tried to escape, she felt something snag onto her cape. She looked back and saw that one of the three kidnappers who grabbed onto it.

He stared at her with a look of rage. "You're going to pay for that one, you little brat!" he said as he pulled Yukari back and raised a fist into the air. As he did, his form began to change. His became green and scaly, his head morphed into that of a lizard and he grew out a tail, which burst out of his trousers.

Yukari gasped. "Lizard Men!" she said out loud.

" **That's right. And let me tell you something, if you think you're going to get out of this mess, then you're dead wrong!** " the scaly enemy said as he brought down his, now clawed, hands towards her, Yukari held her breath as she waited for the end.

Only to see something fly directly above her.

As it did, it collided with the lizard man, creating a few cracking noise in the process. The Scaly enemy was rocketed back while the object that crashed into him landed a few feet in front of Yukari.

She recognised who it was instantly.

"Ethan… is that you?" she asked.

Ethan didn't respond. Instead, she started walking up to the Lizard men, cracking his knuckles as he did so.

The leader got back onto his feet, struggling to stand at first, but managed to heal surprisingly quickly. " **Did you really think you could take me down with a little smack like that?** " he asked, laughing haughtily after.

Ethan answered his question with illuminated eyes as he put his hands together and slammed them into the ground. The result was a wave of energy that broke the ground into pieces as the energy traveled straight towards the lizard men. They managed to avoid it, but the energy continued for another fifty feet, increasing the range of damage the further it traveled.

The lizards looked back at Ethan with astonishment. " **What the hell are you?** " asked the first lackey.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders in response. He was about to move again when, at the worst possible time, his energy began to fade again. He collapsed down to one knee and began breathing heavily. This caused Yukari to scream with shock and the Lizard men to laugh at him.

" **Seriously? After that big show you gave us, you get tired now**?" asked the leader as he walked up to him. As he stood directly above him, he raised a claw high into the air, ready to tear the boy to shreds. He instantly brought down the claw, causing Yukari to turn away, unable to bear watching Ethan being brought down like that.

She heard the claws hit their mark, causing her to make a small whimper. However, there was a different voice grunting in pain. She turned back to see Ethan a few feet from the Lizard men, with Tsukune gripping onto his jacket

And a number of claw marks embedded in his back.

Ethan looked behind him in surprise, then shock as he saw Tsukune there, as well as being injured.

"You IDIOT! Why did you come here!?" Ethan roared at him.

Tsukune gave him a wide smile, despite being in great pain. "You didn't think I could just stand by and let my friends get hurt, did you?" he asked.

That sentence caught Yukari's attention. "Fr… Friends?" she asked.

Tsukune looked back to her, giving her a nod. "Yeah. I know you've been alone for a lot of your life, me and Ethan were too… but now you don't have to be alone anymore, Yukari. Okay?"

Yukari was having difficulty processing what she was seeing and hearing. Despite what she did to him, he still wants to be friends with her. She then smiled and nodded in response.

" _Looks like Ethan was right._ " She thought to herself.

" **Grrr… That's IT! I can't TAKE ANYMORE OF THIS STUPIDITY!** " roared the class rep as he pounced towards the witch again. " **I'm going to tear you to PIECES!** "

As he was airborne, however, he felt something latch onto his leg. He was then pulled back and slammed into the ground. He then felt his arms being put behind his back and then pushed down onto it. The class rep looked up and saw that it was Ethan who was pushing him down, despite starting to sweat and breathe heavily as his eyes continued to glow.

"Ethan, stop, you'll tire yourself out! You haven't even learned how to control your power yet!" Tsukune yelled.

"TSUKUNE! YUKARI!"

All eyes turned towards the source of the voice. It was Moka, with Kurumu not too far behind her.

The class rep looked to his henchmen. " **GET THEM!** " he roared. With that, the two morphed into lizard forms as well and rushed towards the girls. They easily managed to avoid them and made their way to their friends.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?" she asked them all.

"Well… I'm struggling to keep down a lizard man and Tsukune's hurt, so… not so much." Ethan managed to say. He was doing a good job restraining the enemy, but he couldn't do it forever. He looked to Tsukune.

"See if you can get the rosary off, we'll need her help!" Ethan said.

Moka and Tsukune looked concerned. "It didn't work last time!" Tsukune replied.

"I don't think it's a simple yank of the chain and "presto", I think you have to truly wish to have it removed. Hurry up!" Ethan exclaimed. His grip on the lizard man was weakening and the other two were preparing for another attack.

Moka and Tsukune looked at each other. Moka nodded and rushed over to Tsukune. He wrapped his hand around the rosary and, with all his will and might, managed to snap off the object from her choker. As soon as she did, the world once again turned crimson from the energy, and Moka began to morph back into the inner persona Tsukune and Ethan had only seen once before.

The silver haired vampiress scanned the area with her scarlet eyes, noticing the looks of awe from them all. Kurumu, in particular, seemed rather afraid.

" _She must be afraid of what would've happened if I fought her earlier._ " She thought. Her gaze met the class rep's immediately after, causing him to freeze. "If you and your allies are entertained through he torture of others, you are not worthy of carrying a badge of honour." She said to him.

With that, the lizard broke free from his restraint, knocking Ethan onto his back, and lunged for Moka. " **I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY THE LIKES OF YOU! NONE WHO ARE BENEATH ME SHALL ESCAPE MY WRATH!** " he roared.

The vampiress gave him a serious look. "Know your place." She said simply. When the lizard was close enough, she whirled around and slammed her foot into his face, sending him flying through the woulds over a lake, skipping across it each time he touched the surface.

The vampiress smirked at how easy it was. However, she didn't notice the remaining two lizards behind her. Ethan brought himself back onto his knees. He saw the lizards going for Moka, intending on attacking from behind. With what little strength he had left, he screamed her name to get her attention.

"MOK **AAAAAA!** "

As Ethan roared, a bright flash of light erupted from his mouth. After a second, the light was formed into a pillar of fire as it shot at the remaining Lizard men, sending them into nearby trees and scorching their clothing. When the fire faded, Ethan collapsed.

Everyone, save for Tsukune, was surprised. Even the stone-face Moka couldn't help but raise her eyebrows at the unexpected display of power.

"Ethan!" Yukari and Kurumu yelled as they made their way over, Kurumu carrying Tsukune by the shoulders.

Tsukune couldn't help but chuckle. "I knew there was a hot-head in him somewhere." He said.

"This isn't the time for jokes Tsukune!" Kurumu replied. After a few seconds of silence from the boy, she looked at him and saw that he had fallen unconscious. The girl was about to panic when Inner Moka placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You needn't fear. Both are simply worn out from the experience." She said. Her gaze then caught Ethan. "Him, more so than Tsukune."

"How was he able to do that?" Kurumu asked.

Inner Moka stayed silent for a moment before going over to Ethan and slinging him over her shoulder. "Let's bring these boys to the infirmary."

As Moka was about to walk off, she felt a tug on her skirt. She looked down and saw a bashful looking Yukari, clearly trying to say something.

"Moka… or… whoever you are… I… thank you for helping me." She said.

The silver-haired vampiress was still for a moment, before giving the girl a proud smile. "Your welcome. Now, come, we could use your magic to help heal these two."

The girl nodded in response. As they made their way out, the class rep had managed to swim back to the shore. He had reverted to his human form, as he was too tired to fight. All he could do was look at the group in fury and hatred.

"How dare they? I'm class representative. They have no right to do this to me!" he said. Somehow, he managed to get back onto his feet. His uniform was severely torn and was bleeding from many places, but couldn't care less. "Watch out, Akashiya, Drake, and those other freak friends of yours. I'm going to kill you all, even if it's the last thing I ever d-"

Before he could finish, a curved blade penetrated his chest, through the sternum and the tip pointing upward. After one second exactly, the blade quickly travelled upward, cleaving the top half of the class rep into two. As his corpse fell to the ground, his killer stood over him.

It was a male that seemed to be around the same age as the first years, he wore black and white digital camo pants, black flat-tip sneakers, a plain black t-shirt and a grey, short sleeved jacket with a hood that concealed his face. In his hand, he held a scythe. IT wasn't anything intimidating, a simple black pole connected to a scythe blade, but the stream of blood dripping from the point of the weapon all but proved its efficiency. From beneath the hood, the figure smiled. "Can't have you messing up the experiment, now, can we?" the figure said to the corpse with a feint welsh accent. He then looked into the direction of where the group walked off in.

"Alright… time to get my staff back." He said, as he dematerialised the staff and walked towards the school.

 **[Alright, that's another chapter finished. I'll be honest, trying to add an OC into the story as well as Tsukune is a real pain, but that won't stop me from writing this story any time soon. In case anyone was upset about the last chapter, I give a sincere apology, but I won't be making any changes to it. I say this because I myself felt it wasn't my best work, but I will strive to improve from this point on. Also, I updated the image for the story, mainly because I thought it would be better t use one more closely related to Rosario + Vampire. Anyway, time to work on the next chapter, see you all later]**

 **Gb: I need to ask, is an OC pairing that bad? Even if it's, hypothetically, with another OC?**


	5. Ignition

Pain surged through Ethan's head as he returned to the realm of the living. He slowly moved his head from side to side, checking to see where he was. He was a little surprised to see that he was back in the infirmary. After waiting a few more seconds to let the pain fade away, he slowly sat up straight. When he was up, he looked around the room, surprised to see that it was empty.

He got out of the bed and tried to remember what had happened before he blacked out.

" _What the hell happened? Last thing I remember was rushing into the forest to help out Yukari… did I get into a fight?"_ he thought. He winced as he tried to remember what had happened, as if the memory had been repressed. He sighed and went back over to the bed, only to stop his guitar case where he had left it.

"Damn, I should be more careful with that thing." Ethan said to himself. He went to the case and unzipped it. He opened the case to see the staff still there. He smiled at his luck, knowing that he couldn't risk losing the object. After hearing what Yukari said about the seal, he didn't want to risk unleashing the power it could've held… or what someone might do with it if given the opportunity.

He zipped the bag back up and turned towards the bed, deciding to have an extra rest while he had the chance. However, before he could, he heard some knocking on the door. He sighed as he laid on the bed, trying to relax.

"Come in." he said.

As soon as he said it, the door slid open, revealing Tsukune and the girls. He was surprised at first, mainly because he saw the little witch standing by his side. Tsukune must've forgiven her if she was with them. He then let himself relax and motioned them to come in with his head. They all rushed over to him, suddenly barraging him with a great number of questions.

"Ethan, are you okay?" Moka asked.

"You're not too badly hurt, are you?" Kurumu asked.

"Hope you're not too worn out after what happened." Tsukune said.

Ethan then raised a hand into the air, telling them to stop. "Thanks for the concern, but barraging me with questions isn't going to help. To be honest, I'm more worried about you guys."

The group couldn't help but feel a bit of gratitude for his concern. Moka was the first to speak. "Thank you, Ethan." She said with a smile. She then began to look slightly serious as she spoke again. "Still… we're all worried about you, especially after what you did in the forest."

Ethan looked at her in confusion. "What? What do you mean?"

Yukari spoke up. "You know, when you breathed fire on the class representative and his goons."

Ethan was silent for a moment, before he burst out in a fit of laughter. He stopped when he saw the serious looks on their faces. "Hang on… you're serious?"

They all nodded.

Ethan was silent for another moment before grinning slightly.

"Cool." He simply said.

"I never knew you could do that, Ethan, it was amazing." Kurumu said.

"As far as I know, you haven't known them for every long, so how could you know?" Yukari pointed out.

"Shut up, little girl." Kurumu said to her plainly. As soon as she said that, a water basin appeared over her head, soon slamming down right on top of it.

"You shut up!" Yukari shouted back.

When she finished talking, she immediately turned to Ethan with a large smile on her face. "By the way, Ethan, I have something to say, and I'd like you to bear witness."

Ethan immediately felt a bit uneasy, afraid of what she might say. Not having it in him to refuse, he nodded in agreement. Yukari cleared her throat for a moment and turned to Tsukune before speaking.

"Tsukune Aono, I'm sorry for everything I did to you. I just assumed you weren't a good person because of what I knew about you, and that was wrong of me." Her head was starting to point down. "I treated you horribly… and yet… you were still willing to rescue me. I hope you will forgive me."

Tsukune smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Hey, forget about it. We're all friends now, right?" he said.

Yukari seemed full of glee from what he said. She then continued to speak. "You're such a good person, Tsukune… and that's why I've fallen for you."

There was an uncomfortable silence for what felt like an eternity, but was actually a few seconds in reality.

"Beg pardon?" Tsukune asked.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm still in love with Moka, but now all three of us can be together!" she said excitedly as she latched herself onto Tsukune with a strong hug. Kurumu was furious, yelling at Yukari, saying that Tsukune belonged to her. Ethan looked behind them and saw Moka, who looked like she was trying to hold back her anger. After another moment, she decided against it and rocketed towards the group. Seeing this, Ethan jumped out of the bed, narrowly avoiding Tsukune as he was fired onto the bed.

"TSUKUNE BELONGS TO JUST ME!" she yelled as she began to drink his blood again.

Tsukune screamed as he felt the fangs sink in. He yelled for Ethan's help, but Ethan was having trouble registering what was going on at the moment. He shook his head slightly.

"Oh my god." Ethan said.

Unknown to any of them, the figure who had taken care of the class representative had been sitting on a tree, observing what was going on with a maniacal smile on his face.

"This will be a lot more interesting." He said to himself.

…..

After the event in the infirmary, Tsukune made his way back into his room. Ethan wasn't too far behind him. He expected Ethan to crack jokes about his situation, but he remained silent. This surprised Tsukune, but he stayed quiet about it for the time being.

They made their way back to their respective rooms. When Ethan arrived at his, he threw the guitar case into his closet and threw himself onto the ground. He couldn't help but laugh at the situation Tsukune was in. While having multiple women falling for you at once would be every man's dream, it seemed to be more of a train wreck for Tsukune as they were either playing tug of war with his body, trying to suffocate him with their "assets", or draining him dry of blood.

"Good luck to you, you eejit." He said to himself.

He got himself back onto his feet and made his way over to the door. He opened it and found Tsukune making his way out of the building. He seemed to be carrying a bag of rubbish.

"Hey, lover boy! You doing okay?" Ethan said.

Tsukune froze and turned towards Ethan, with a solemn look on his face. "I knew you were going to bring that up." He said sadly.

"Ah, come on. It'd be every fella's dream to have a load of women going after them. Why's that got you down?" he asked.

"That's… not what's bothering me." He said.

Ethan's grin slowly changed to a look of concern. "Oh… well, what's up? You know you can talk to me, right?"

Tsukune made a slight grin. "Yeah. Despite your jokes, you're great when it comes to helping me out." He said, starting to look solemn again. "But… not now, okay?"

Ethan frowned, not liking to be left in the dark when his friend is upset about something. But he knew pushing it could cause more problems, so he nodded in agreement.

"Thanks. Say, do you want to get something in the cafeteria later?" Tsukune asked.

"Sorry, can't. I've got some studying to catch up on. I swear that math teacher looks like she's out to get us or something." Ethan said as he went back inside his room.

Tsukune chuckled at his joke slightly, elevating his mood slightly as he continued on his way to deposit the waste.

….

Ethan sat down on his desk, opening one of the drawers and lifting out an old tome. He blew off some dust that had gathered on top of it before reading the title.

"Monster Encyclopaedia, huh?" he said to himself.

He opened the tome and scanned through the book for anything of interest. After the last few near-fatal encounters, he decided it would be best to do some research on the different kinds of monsters out there. He decided to start off with the vampires.

"Hmm… let's see… woah, that's unexpected." He said to himself.

He read through the transcript, making mental notes on the things he saw, such as how they were creatures who were strong enough to take on armies by themselves, previously drank from humans as frequently as possible before they decided to stop and live in seclusion. They were capable of converting their aura into strength, which is how they were able to fight so well.

What surprised him the most was that they were vulnerable to water, not just holy water either. Because of its purifying properties, it saps a vampire's strength and causes them physical harm.

" _That's important to know._ " Ethan thought.

He was about to close the book when a thought suddenly occurred to him. He looked through the index to see if he could find something related to monsters using fire. After hearing what the group told him, he's now one step closer to knowing exactly what he is.

The closest thing he could find was something called a fox demon, a creature who could freely manipulate flame, once revered as gods to some humans. However, there was nothing about them breathing fire, so that was out the window. He knew he couldn't be a dragon since they would live a particularly… harsh life style based on what he heard, so he'd know for sure. In the end, he closed the book and decided to go outside and have a walk around.

He changed out of his uniform and changed into more comfortable attire. Since it was the weekend now, there was nothing to stop him from being out of uniform. Sporting denim jeans, grey hiking boots and a charcoal jacket over a black sports shirt.

He looked at himself in the mirror for a moment. After pondering on an idea for a moment, he held his right hand up to his face and imagined it being covered in flame. He took long, deep breaths as he did so, hoping it would help him focus. However, after a few minutes, there was no result. He lowered his hand and continued on out of his room and out the dorm.

" _Better luck next time… I guess_." Ethan thought to himself.

When he was outside the dorm, however, he heard the sound of someone yelling out in pain. Concerned, he followed the sound towards the source. It didn't take long for him to find the source. Unfortunately, he found that it was Tsukune being beat up by three male teens in pink shirts with… small traffic cones.

"Seriously, is this guy so weak?" said one of them, who was surprisingly tall and wore a pair of spectacles.

"I guess the rumours weren't true after all." Said the second, a short boy who was clearly over weight.

"In this case, we will have no problem in serving this criminal justice for what he has done." Said the third, who was of average height and had brown hair, seemingly the person in charge of the trio.

Hearing the third say that Tsukune committed a crime, Ethan froze, afraid that they were found out. Allowing instinct to take over, he rushed over to the group with impressive speed. When he was close enough, he jumped into the air and brought up his knee up into the air, striking the leader in the chin with full force and sending him flying backwards. He landed flat on his back while Ethan landed with a roll. He turned back to the other two, who were frozen in fear from what they saw.

Tsukune raised his head to see his friend, smiling with relief. "Ethan, you're here!" he said.

"Can't go a day without some sort of drama, can we?" Ethan asked humorously with a smile. However, his look became more serious again as he looked at the remaining two teens, pointing at the leader behind him.

"Why are you after my friend?"

The obese one managed to speak. "Oh no, I think that's Ethan Drake." He said.

The spectacle wearing teen followed up with a wavering voice. "They guy who bet up everyone who tried to take over the school so far? Aono's friends with him!?"

The leader sat up quickly and yelled with a panicked voice "QUICK, WE MUST RETREAT! WE CAN'T SAVE OUR GODDESSES LIKE THIS!"

With that, the other two ran past Ethan two their leader, helped him up and they all ran for the hills. Ethan turned to Tsukune and jogged over to him, pulling him back onto his feet.

"You alright, Tsukune?" Ethan asked.

Tsukune gave him a weak nod. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks for the save… I guess."

Ethan raised an eyebrow at him, noticing that there was some level of dissatisfaction in his voice. "Would you've rather I didn't save you?" he asked, genuinely.

Before Tsukune answered, they both heard screaming coming from behind them. They looked to see the girls running their way.

"TSUKUNE!" Kurumu cried, crashing into Tsukune and hugging his head into her chest. "Are you okay? Please tell me you weren't hurt!" Moka and Yukari both seemed angered by her actions.

Ethan shook his head in annoyance before easily yanking Kurumu away from Tsukune. "If he was hurt, it wouldn't be the best idea to suffocate him at the same time, would it?" he asked.

This caused the succubus to blush with embarrassment, realising that her actions weren't the best choice of action. Ethan released her while he helped Tsukune to get up again. Moka and Yukari rushed to either side of him.

"What was going on? We saw you getting hit by those guys. But why would they want to hurt you?" Moka asked with concern.

Tsukune was thankful for his friends' concern for him. He took in a deep breath before speaking. "Well, uh, they're actually wanting to get rid of me to get to you guys. They're members of some kind of club, what was it called… the 'Love Love Alliance'?" he explained.

Ethan's eyes widened. After a second, he palmed his own face, his hand down slowly, revealing a face of disbelief and shock. The rest of the group saw this and were slightly amazed, as this was a bit different compared to his usual behaviour.

"You have… GOT… to be kidding me…" Ethan said.

"Ethan? Are you okay?" Yukari asked.

"No, Yukari, I am not. The Love Love Alliance is a group of three fanatics, each one the president of a specific fan club."

"Huh? What fan clubs?" Moka asked.

Ethan looked at the girls with a cringed look, as if what he was about to say was too painful to say.

"The leader of the group is the leader of the "Moka Akashiya Fan Club", four-eyes is the leader of the "Yukari Sendo Fan Club", while living boulder of a boy is the leader of the "Kurumu Kurono Fan Club"." Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose and held his head down before speaking again. "These guys are the definition of depraved."

"Wait, Ethan, how do you know about these guys?" Tsukune asked.

"Heard about them from people around the school, all of them saying they're a bunch of weirdos. And after today, those claims are… justified." Ethan answered.

"Oh my…" Moka said, now a little more self-conscious now that she knew that she had that kind of person after her.

"Why are they after Tsukune?" Kurumu asked, folding her arms under her chest.

"More than likely because you've all fallen for him, so they all see him as a threat. Which means they won't stop until he's out of the picture, even if it means…" Ethan paused for a moment to draw a line on his throat along his throat, indicating what they might do to him.

"ETHAN, DON'T MESS AROUND!" Moka shouted, clearly upset from what Ethan did.

"I'm not messing around, Moka. Our friend is in danger and we need to keep him safe from these wackos. Now, you in or out?" Ethan wore a fearfully serious expression, showing he was no longer in a laughing mood at the moment.

"Of course we're in!" Yukari yelled. She turned to Tsukune and hugged him with as much force as she could muster. "We'll make sure those creeps don't hurt you!" she said.

Kurumu and Moka agreed, each holding one of Tsukune's hands.

While Ethan was happy to see that the girls were in board. However, he still couldn't help but notice Tsukune's mood seemed to darken. After seeing this, he decided enough was enough.

"Girls, I need you to check out the boy's dorms and see if the loony brigade are hiding outside somewhere. If any of the guys there try to hit on you, tell them I sent you, they'll back off quickly enough."

Moka was about to protest, but Ethan sent her a quick glance, signalling her that he wanted to speak with him alone. The vampiress nodded in agreement. She motioned for the rest of the group to follow her, the other two having no complaints on the matter.

"Might be fun to see what the boys do when no one's looking." Kurumu said with a cheeky smile.

"Oooh, that would be so FUN!" Yukari said as a follow up.

"Oh, come on guys." Moka said, not liking the sound of their idea. The made their way to the dorms, leaving the two males on their own. Ethan gave his friend a serious look.

"Alright, mate. What's been going on with you lately. Why are you so, well, not you?" Ethan asked.

"What do you mean?" Tsukune asked in genuine confusion.

"You know what I mean. You've been acting depressed, as if something's been weighing you down. Will you just tell me what's up with you?"

Tsukune stayed silent for a moment before he was able to speak.

"I hate that I'm so weak." He said.

Ethan raised his brow from hearing this. "What?"

"Every time we've had to face something, I'm always the one who has to be protected. I always sit on the side-lines while you and the girls face off against the bad guys. I just… I just feel like I'm nothing but a dead weight to you guys." Tsukune let out.

Ethan remained silent as his friend spoke, absorbing each word he said. When Tsukune finished, Ethan brushed his hair back as he thought about what to say next. Before he could say anything, though, Tsukune walked past him.

"I'm sorry, Ethan. I don't want to talk anymore. I'm heading back into my room." He said. As he walked off, Ethan stayed where he was.

Ethan let his head roll back, frustration filling up inside of him. He then quickly raised a fist into the air and slammed it down into the ground, causing a crack to form where he hit it. He stood back up straight and looked back in the direction he saw Tsukune walk off to.

"Damn it, Tsukune." he said.

He was about to follow him when he felt something strike him in the back of his head, knocking him out cold. As he laid unconscious, a pair of hands appeared and dragged him by the feet to a different location.

…..

After Tsukune returned to the dorm, he found that the girls were just leaving. They told him that there was nothing suspicious going on there at the moment, so they decided to call it quits and head back. Although Kurumu took her time, taking in the stares of the boys peaking in through the windows. Yukari gave Tsukune a big hug before heading off, leaving Moka to stand in the one spot as she looked at her friend with concern.

"Tsukune… are you really okay?" she asked.

Tsukune stayed silent for a moment before answering. "No. Moka… do you know what its like to not being able to protect someone? To be forced to sit on the side lines and not being able to do anything?" he asked.

Moka was surprised by this. "Where is this coming from?" she asked.

"It's coming from the fact that I'm too weak to protect anyone. It's either you or Ethan who have to pick up the slack when we're in trouble. I can never do anything to help, when I should be the one protecting you." He said.

Tsukune tried hard to contain his anger as his fists began to shake. "Because I'm human, I can never do anything. Why can't I be more like you guys."

Moka's expression was completely blank for a moment. Then to Tsukune's surprise, she chuckled.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"What makes you think you're weak? You done more than enough in protecting us all." She said.

Tsukune looked at her in confusion for a moment. Seeing the confusion, she continued to speak. "When we were attacked by Saizou, you pushed me out of the way and kept me from getting hurt. You stopped Ethan from killing Kurumu. You protected Yukari from the lizard men and showed her she isn't alone anymore." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "And let's not forget Ethan. From what you guys told me, you were the only one you cared about him and helped him when he was trapped in the dark. It's because of you he's with us today."

Tsukune wasn't able to speak. He never realised that he had indeed put that much effort into helping his friends. He was about to speak when Moka pulled him into an embrace. They stayed like that for a few more seconds before Tsukune spoke again.

"Moka… thank you." He said.

"You're welcome… Tsukune." She replied.

"GUYS" yelled Kurumu.

Hearing her coming in their direction, Tsukune and Moka quickly parted, trying to act like nothing was going on. When Kurumu arrived, with Yukari hanging off her neck, she didn't notice as she seemed frantic and worried.

"Kurumu, what's wrong?" Tsukune asked.

Yukari spoke first. "Ethan was right! Those guys are serious!"

Kurumu pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Tsukune. "We found it on the ground in some kind of crater in the ground. It says they've got Ethan!"

Tsukune's eyes widened with worry and straightened out the page, reading the note carefully.

 _Tsukune Aono_

 _We've got your friend, Drake. Right now, he's hidden where you'll never find him. If you don't go to the bus stop as soon as you've read this note, you'll never see him again._

 _Love Love Alliance._

 _P.S._

 _Come alone._

"Oh no." Tsukune said weakly.

"How could they?" Moka asked, clearly terrified for Ethan's sake.

Yukari hopped off of Kurumu and pulled out her wand. "Don't worry! I think I can find a way to deal with these guys and save Ethan at the same time!"

"How!?" Kurumu asked.

"I… don't know yet. But I've got an idea where to start!" Yukari answered.

"Well, that's something. I'll head to the bus stop." Tsukune said. Before he could move, though, he felt something tug on his jacket. He turned to see Moka with her hands on the sleeve of his jacket, giving him a silent look as if to say 'Don't go'. Tsukune gave her a reassuring look.

"Don't worry. So long as we think those guys are in charge, they won't suspect we're going to beat them. I'll be fine, I promise."

Moka still didn't look convinced, but she still nodded in agreement before releasing Tsukune. He then walked off towards the direction of the stop. He turned back slightly while walking and waved at them, giving them an encouraging smile.

"And come on. Its Ethan. There's no way he'd let guys like those get away with kidnapping him." He said, getting a laugh from the girls. When he was facing forward again, though, he started to cringe.

" _Actually… I'm starting to feel sorry for those guys._ " Tsukune thought.

….

Waking up with a sore head, Ethan rose his head, blinking his eyes as he tried to readjust his vision. He looked around and saw that he was in a dark room with a single light shining from the centre of the ceiling.

He tried to move, only to feel something restraining him. He looked back down to see a long length of rope tied around him, as well as the back of the chair he was sitting on. He tried to move again, but to no avail. Deciding to take a break, he looked around the room. He hoped he could find some means to escape, but the light didn't go far enough around the room.

His eyes widened when an idea popped into his head. Cursing himself as he didn't think of it sooner, he focused and tried to summon his strength. As he did so, his eyes began to glow.

"A little… overkill, don't you think?" came a voice in the darkness.

Ethan's concentration broke, causing his eyes to revert to their normal colour. He turned his head from side to side slightly, narrowing his eyes as he did so.

"Who are you?" Ethan asked.

As soon as he asked, the figure that had been observing them in the forest stepped out of the shadows from behind Ethan, briskly walking in front of him. When he faced him, he raised his hands into the air and smiled at him.

"What's with all the hostility here? I just want to talk." The figure said.

"You always tie people up when you talk to them?" Ethan asked darkly as he tried to move again.

The figure craned his neck to one side as he pondered on what to say. "Well… no… but considering what you're like, I thought that you'd react the wrong way when I told you about the class rep."

"What? The scaly cunt? What about him?" Ethan asked.

The figure paused again before speaking again. "The guy's dead. Took the liberty of slicing him up a bit." The figure noticed that Ethan started to tense. "What? He was going to try and kill you again! It was better to take him out of the equation."

"You think that gives you the right to take a life?" Ethan was prepared to summon his strength again.

"I think… it gives me the right to protect the two humans of this academy." The figure stated firmly, becoming much more serious.

Ethan froze. The nut in the hood admitted to knowing his and Tsukune's secret. At that moment, he wasn't sure what to do.

"Relax. I'm not planning on saying anything. Like I said, it's my job to keep you guys safe. If you think I'd be stupid enough to expose you two?"

Ethan stayed silent. If he didn't trust the hooded figure now, he certainly didn't trust him now. "Why should I trust you?" he asked.

As if to answer his question, the figure raised his right hand, left his index and middele fingers in the end. He slowly pressed the fingers onto Ethan's forehead. After a second, there was a spark of light, causing a flame to ignite around Ethan. He started to panic when he saw that he was on fire, but calmed down a few seconds later when he noticed that the flames weren't hurting him.

"What the… hell?"

The figure smiled. "I decided to help you unlock the hidden potential inside of you. I have to admit, I never saw a guy who had that much… 'Fire power.'" He said.

The flames may not have burned Ethan, or his clothes, but they were able to incinerate the ropes that were binding him. Ethan was surprised. He stood up and observed his arms, continuing to let the flames dance across his body. After taking a deep breath, he clicked his fingers and, much to his relief, the flames extinguished in an instant.

"Nice control." The figure said.

Ethan just simply gave the figure a glare of steel and ice.

"Oookay. I guess you want to get out of here. Very well." The figure clicked his fingers and a door opened. "The pink shirted loonies probably have a head start. Better start running."

Ethan was halfway out the door when he stopped. He turned back slightly to the hooded figure. "If I'm human… then why do I have these powers?" he asked.

The figure shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Can't help but be curious myself, though." The figure admitted.

Ethan then shot out of the rest of the door, leaving the figure by himself. He smiled and summoned his scythe, leaving it to rest on his shoulders.

"Well, well, well… looks like you were a success after all."

….

Tsukune reached the bus stop. He looked around curious as to where the stalkers could be. He sighed and let his shoulders drop.

"Don't tell me they were kidding." He said to himself.

"Tsukune Aono!" came a voice behind him.

Tsukune turned and saw the fan club standing with their arms folded. He remained alert as they gave him affirmative stares. Tsukune couldn't help but shake his head. "Alright, where's Ethan? I came here like you asked."

"You're going to have to wait. The guy that got him should be here soon." The leader said.

Tsukune looked at them in confusion. "What do you mean?"

The fattest of the trio spoke up. "A guy came to us and said he'd kidnap Drake so that we could deal with you personally."

"And it'll be even easier, now that we're outside the school grounds." The boy with glasses said.

Tsukune's eyes widened with realisation after hearing him say that. "Oh boy." Tsukune said with worry.

The fan club then morphed into their monster forms. The leader pulled out one of his cones and placed it on his head. It expanded and consumed his torso, turning him into a large cone with a single eye in the centre and a mouth directly underneath, with a pair of legs to keep him upright. He obese one's body began to gain more fat, turning him into a living blob, while the last teen allowed his neck to expand, giving him the form of a snake with a human body.

Tsukune looked at them with confusion. "Those are… your monster forms?" he asked.

"What! Are you trying to make fun of us?" the leader yelled.

"Wouldn't blame you if you were. We're a laughing stock compared to all the other guys with THEIR cool monster forms." The living blob said.

"That's why we hate guys who don't have to put in any effort into getting the girls!" the serpent-headed member said.

The leader lowered the top of his cone, allowing it to open like an umbrella and let it spin. "That's why we're not going to let YOU get in the way of acquiring our goddesses!" he yelled. There was enough force in the rotation of the cone exterior to send a strong gust of wind Tsukune's way.

"Oh man, what do I d-AAAGH!" before he could properly finish the sentence, he was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and was thrown into the air. As he spun, he managed to catch a glimpse of someone standing where he was. He gasped as he realised who it was.

"ETHAN!" he yelled.

Ethan didn't hear him as the tornado struck him with full force. However, he didn't seem affected by it. Rather, it was more like a small gust of wind to him. When it ceased, he yawned with boredom.

The Love Love Alliance looked at him with shock.

"HOW! I THOUGHT THE GUY IN THE HOOD KIDNAPPED YOU!" the leader said.

Ethan smirked before replying. "He was just wanting to talk. You idiots seemed like the best patsies." He said. He paused for a moment before asking them a question.

"What are your names again?"

The leader spoke first. "My name is Kouzou Kasahara."

The chubby teen was next. "I'm Gouzobura Taira."

The serpent necked teen was the last to speak. "The name's Kubisaku Naga. Why are you asking us this now?"

Ethan raised a hand into the air and caught Tsukune just as he was about to hit the ground. He released him and started to walk towards the fan club, eyes glowing and smoke rising from his hands.

"I need to write on your headstones." Ethan said grimly.

The group immediately froze with fear. Kouzou was the first to recover, however, and tried to charge forward. Ethan rushed towards him and grabbed him by the top of the cone and swung him back to the group.

Gouzobura was next, trying to roll towards him like a boulder. Ethan countered by slamming a fist into the ground and pulled out a large chunk of rock, which he threw at the living blob, causing him to fly back as well.

Kubisaku quickly extended his neck and tried to wrap himself around Ethan, only for the stronger teen to grab a part of the neck with two hands and squeeze as hard as he could, constricting the enemy's oxygen flow. After more than ten seconds, he passed out, causing him to revert to his human form. Ethan picked up the teen and threw him back to the rest of the pink-shirts.

He turned back to Tsukune, who looked surprised. "You okay?" he asked.

Tsukune nodded his head slowly. "I'm fine, but… are YOU okay? You were kidnapped and now you're using your power. Shouldn't you be tired out?"

Ethan shook his head in response. "I'm alright. The guy who took me helped me out a little bit in the end." He said.

"How?" Tsukune asked.

Ethan was about to respond, but he was interrupted when he heard the sound of Moka screaming their names.

"TSUKUNE! ETHAN!"

They turned to see the girls flying in the air, with Kurumu acting as their mode of transport. A second later, she lowered her passengers before reverting to her human form.

Yukari and Kurumu rushed to Tsukune, giving him incredibly strong hugs. Moka wrapped her arms around Ethan, surprising him slightly, before she let go and rushed over to Tsukune, doing the same thing.

"I'm glad you two are okay." She said.

"How did you escape, Ethan?" Yukari asked.

"Honestly… the kidnapper let me go."

That piece of information surprised the girls, leading Kurumu to ask why.

"He was actually wanting to talk, but decided to make a drama out of it. Got something good from it, though."

Tsukune gave him a curious look. "What did he give you?"

Before Ethan could answer, a bright light shun from behind him. He waited until the light had fully faded before turning around. When he did, he saw a massive creature, seemingly it was a larger version of Gouzobura's blob like body with the cone body of Kouzou spread out like a shell on its back. There was an eye in the centre of body with a mouth directly underneath.

"Woah… that's ugly." Ethan said.

"That's disgusting!" Kurumu said.

" **Behold, our true power when we are combined. This is the power we shall use to crush Aono and all who are friends with him, so we may free our Goddesses from his corruption!** " the creature said in a voice that sounded like an amalgamation of the three.

"Can't we get a break?" Tsukune asked out loud. He quickly turned to Moka. "Quick, let me take off the rosary!" he said.

"Okay, hur-" before Moka could finish, Ethan held out a hand between the two, surprising them both.

"Save your energy. I got this." He said. He walked over to the hulking mass of fat, which chuckled at Ethan as he came closer.

" **Do you seriously think you stand a chance against us? Nothing will stop us from achieving our goals.** " The creature yelled as it ran towards Ethan.

Ethan smirked as he held out a hand and ball of flame was conjured in his hand. He allowed the flame to expand into a massive sphere and shot it at the mass. In that instant, the impact created a blinding light and a blast of energy to blow everything around it back, except for Ethan.

The blob stumbled back. When it looked up again, Ethan ran towards them, using his strength to jump into the air. Having his fists now covered in flames, he pulled them both back as he readied to strike down the creature. With a smile, he landed his hits, sending the beast back even further, scorching its skin and clothes.

Ethan landed with a roll. He stood up straight and smiled. As a finisher, he clicked his fingers and summoned a pillar of flame that struck the creature from underneath, causing it to scream in pain. When the pillar faded, the creature separated into the three individuals again. Surprisingly, despite the damage done to their combined form, they were uninjured.

They all looked at Ethan, who had covered himself in so much flames that it looked like some kind of aura. Giving them all terrifying glares, he spoke.

"If you guys ever go neat the girls of Tsukune again… I promise that I will burn you all alive." His voice taking on a similar dark tone to how he spoke to Kurumu in the forest.

With that, they all screamed and ran off. When Ethan was sure they were gone, he turned back to the group, all of whom were gob-smacked by what they had seen. He simply gave them a smile in response.

"To answer your question Tsukune… That's what the guy did."

…

About a couple of days after the incident with the Love Love alliance, everything began to go back to normal. Tsukune and the girls were pestering him about how he was able to use fire so easily, but he simply told them that he couldn't say, as it would break the rules. When he and Tsukune were alone, he told Tsukune that he wasn't sure about how he got his powers.

"If I had to guess to had something to do with the accident when I was younger." Ethan said.

"Really? How come?" Tsukune asked.

"I never told you this… but when I was there, I got hit with a lot of the flames. I should've been covered in burns, but I was perfectly fine when I woke up after the accident." Ethan explained.

"Woah. That sounds terrifying." Tsukune commented.

"It's scarier to live it." Ethan said. He looked at his hands and thought about how he was able to use the flames. "I wonder what else I can do?" he said to himself.

"No clue, but I can't wait to find out." Tsukune answered, despite the question not being asked to him. He then looked at his watch, which Ethan noticed.

"You know, if you want you can call home now. Don't let me stop you." Ethan said. Yesterday, it was announced that phones connected to the human world, which caught both Ethan and Tsukune's interest. It would be very useful to stay in touch with the rest of the Aono family, who would no doubt love to hear about how they both are doing.

Tsukune shook his head. "I can call them later. We've got to meet up with the girls now, right?" he said.

Ethan nodded. With that, they both headed towards where the girls would be. Ethan walked at a slower pace as his muttered " _Thanks for the boost._ "

Unknown to Tsukune, the hooded figure had been hiding in the trees above them, observing how they were getting on. He smiled as he heard what Ethan said.

"No problem." He said quietly. He adjusted how he was sitting as he lost himself in thought.

" _So, that's phase one down. Looks like "Project: Hellfire" is going as planned._ " He thought with a menacing smile. With that, he vanished, leaving nothing but empty space in his place.

 **[And there we go. Another chapter has been finished. I finally decided that it would be a good time to reveal some more of Ethan's abilities. And yes, as many suspected, there is fire manipulation involved. In case anyone is curious about the whole "Project: Hellfire" thing, I promise that it will be explained in future chapters, but I will tell you it won't be good news for the gang. Well, that's all from me, hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did or didn't don't be afraid to leave a review to give your thoughts. See you all later.]**

 **Matt: I managed to fix as much of the grammar and spelling as much as I could, though there might be some words that might still be different compared to what you see, as some words in English are spelled differently compared to the European English and American English. If there's anything specific you don't like, don't be afraid to point it out.**

 **Andromeda: Got the review, for some reason I can't see it when I check the review section, but I got it all the same. Thanks for the compliments, and I'll think about the pairing idea.**


	6. Club Activities

Tsukune was walking into the school building, wearing a great smile on his face as he was looking forward to another day at Yokai academy. Seeing how things have started to calm down after the incident with the 'Love Love Alliance' two weeks ago, Tsukune was able to actually enjoy life in the academy for once. He never felt so calm before since coming to this school.

"Alright. I wonder what's in store today?" Tsukune said to himself.

"Morning Tsukune!"

Tsukune turned around and saw none other than Moka running up behind him to catch up with him. He couldn't help but smile as he saw her coming up to him. When she caught up, she gave him a friendly smile, to which he responded with a smile of his own.

"So, how are you today?" she asked.

"I'm pretty good, thanks. After the incident with the three guys, things have been pretty nice."

Moka nodded. "Yeah, it's nice not to have to get into a fight."

Tsukune nodded. He then turned to the campus, where he saw a number of students coming out of the building. When they saw him, they all looked at him with admiration.

"Oh, wow! It's Tsukune Aono!" one girl said.

"I heard that he took down Saizou Komiya, the class rep and those pink-shirted perverts." A boy said.

"This guy's the BEAST!" another boy said.

Tsukune raised an eyebrow. " _Why do they think that I did those things? That was Moka and Ethan."_ He thought. Upon thinking that, his eyes widened with realization. He turned to Moka. "Hey, Moka, have you seen Ethan today?"

Moka was silent for a moment as she thought about it. "No, actually. Do you think he might be sick?" she asked.

"Don't know." He said. As soon as he said that, though, a thought occurred to him. "Actually…"

"What is it?" Moka asked.

"Well… you know how EthaaAAAGH!" Tsukune said. Before he could properly say what he wanted to say, he felt someone jump onto his back, knocking him onto the ground. Moka gasped, as did all the students in the area. Tsukune felt his body being turned over and saw that it was, not surprisingly, Kurumu.

"Morning, my _destined one._ She said, her nickname form him said in a seductive tone.

Tsukune immediately blushed. He could feel Kurumu pressing her chest onto his own, making him incredibly uncomfortable. However, as a blessing in disguise, he saw a water basin appear over Kurumu's head, which slammed down and left a large bump on her head.

Kurumu toppled over, freeing Tsukune, but the boy was once again restrained by a familiar witch, her arms wrapping around his neck.

"Don't let that blue-haired succubus get to you, Tsukune. You know just as well as I do that the two of us and Moka belong to each other." She said with a cheery tone.

With that, Tsukune felt even more uncomfortable after hearing that. He looked around and saw a number of angry and jealous glares from the boys, while the girls were just astonished by what they saw from Kurumu and Yukari.

He suddenly felt a strong chill go down his spine. He looked over his shoulder and saw Moka with a rather… irritated expression on her face. Before Tsukune could say anything, however, Moka leapt onto him, knocking away Yukari in the process.

"NO, TSUKUNE IS MINE!" she roared. With that, her fangs elongated and they were plunged into Tsukune's neck.

"AAAAGH, MOKAAA!" Tsukune yelled. When she was finished, Tsukune laid back on the ground, in total shock at what happened, his good mood ruined.

" _Oh man, what's going to happen to me now?_ " he thought to himself.

…

"Morning class!" Miss Nekonome said cheerfully.

Tsukune noticed that Miss Nekonome seemed to be in an incredibly happy mood today. It wouldn't be unordinary to see her in a happy mood, but her cheerful attitude seemed to be through the roof. They couldn't figure out what was up with her.

"Oh, I have the best news this week! Today, every first year will be joining the different clubs available around the campus. By doing this, you will all be able experience what life as a human was like more easily."

A number of the students were moaning under their breath, but some were excited by the idea. The one who seemed the most excited by this was Moka, who was struggling to stay seated with the level of anticipation she was now feeling.

Tsukune noticed this and couldn't help but smile. There was nothing in the world at the moment that brought him as much joy as seeing her happy. A smile always broke onto his face when it happened.

" _Man, if Ethan was here, he'd make fun of me until the end of time._ " Tsukune thought.

His brow was quickly raised when he thought of Ethan. He looked around and realized that Ethan was still a no-show. This surprised him greatly. " _Where the heck is Ethan? He never missed a day so far?_ "

Tsukune tried to put it at the back of his mind, knowing that Ethan can literally tear his way out of any situation he was put in. But still, he couldn't help but worry.

"Now, just to let you know." Miss Nekonome continued. "This is a requirement of all students in the academy, so there's no getting out of it. Sorry." She said. "Oh, and remember, as this this is about blending in with human society, you must never reveal your true forms to anyone." She said seriously.

"Uh, excuse me, ma'am?" said one student.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Your tail?" the student said, pointing at the teacher's clearly exposed tail. After regarding it for a moment, she immediately lept at the student, clawing his face and leaving numerous red marks.

"Okay!" she said happily, while the student laid on the floor crying and gripping his face. Tsukune was amazed at how spontaneous she could be, even though it can lead to incredibly lethal situations like this one. She was nearly as scary as the inner Moka and Ethan combined sometimes.

"Alright class. From now, classes have been suspended for the rest of the day to let you search for clubs to join. You'll find stands all across the school's plaza, so I hope you find the one you like best. Oh, and I'm also the supervisor of the newspaper club, so don't forget to check it out if you have the time."

With that, all the students made their way out of the door. However, before Tsukune could follow suit, he felt someone grab onto his arm. He turned and saw that it was Moka, who seemed to be bursting with anticipation.

"Tsukune! I've got an idea! How about the two of us try to find a club to join together? It'll make it easier for us when we're with each other, right?"

Tsukune couldn't really argue with her logic… mainly because it involved being closer to Moka. "No problem." Just then, he thought of something important. "Uh, can we do it in a little while, now that we're free, I need to check on Ethan."

"Oh, good idea. I'll wait for you at the plaza." Moka said. With that, she rushed off toward her destination while Tsukune made his way over to the dorms.

" _Hope he's okay. Hope he's not burning himself out too much._ "

….

Around seven dead trees were now burning to ash in mere seconds. As they crumbled into dust, a number of fireballs shot out into the air and struck a few more trees around the inferno. However, instead of catching on fire, they were blasted into flaming shards as they were struck with tremendous force.

As the fire began to calm itself, Ethan wiped the sweat off his brow as he admired his handy work. He couldn't help but smile at how well he was progressing in such as short amount of time.

" _Guess the freak in the hood was good for something after all._ " Ethan thought.

After the hooded figure had somehow unlocked Ethan's power, he was able to use it like he had been practicing with it all his life. He found that he could ignite anything just by wishing to do so, firing streams of flame from his hands and, one of the most useful tricks, being able to use the force of a fire blast to push himself out of the way, like a type of dodge ability.

The only thing, however, was that he wasn't able to use that 'Fire breathing ability' everyone said he used earlier. It irked him slightly, but he decided not to let it bother him. In the meantime, he opted to focus on what he could do.

He readied himself and fired another sphere of flames, rocketing it towards another tree. As it impacted, it once again blew it into pieces. He built up another flame in his hand and, instead of firing it, decided to experiment with his capabilities a bit more. He charged up the flame and allowed it to spread along his arm. When it reached his elbow, he saw that it had formed into a gauntlet, the elbow sticking out like a blade while the fingertips were pointed, like mini-spikes. This Gothic style was surprisingly appealing to Ethan.

"You know what, I think I'll experiment a little more. Maybe I'll be able breathe fire after all." He said. To himself. He then readied himself and prepared to try the same with his other arm.

"Isn't talking to yourself the first sign of madness?" came a familiar welsh accent.

Ethan's response was swift. He spun his flame-coated fist towards the source. As he was about to strike, he saw the hooded figure briefly before he moved his head to the side. Ethan brought up a knee to his stomach, but he hit nothing but air as the figure stepped backwards and dashed to Ethan's right, sending a strong, painful fist into Ethan's stomach.

Ethan felt the air leave his stomach as the figure's fist impacted. He was sent skidding backwards, but he still stood strong.

The figure smiled. "Damn, you're one tough punk." He said.

"What do you want?" Ethan asked.

"Aww, is that how you treat the guy who helped you unlock those new tricks of yours?" the hooded figure asked, feigning sorrow at Ethan.

Ethan glared at him in response. "Don't mess with me." He said in a dark tone. "Just because you unlocked these powers doesn't mean you're an ally. You could be wanting to use my power for your own purposes." His fist, having been extinguished after the figure's surprise attack, was re-ignited. "Besides, you knocked me out and kidnapped me. Not the best way to earn trust."

While Ethan couldn't see his eyes, he could tell the figure was rolling them. "How many times have I told you 'I'm sorry'?" the figure asked.

"… Zero." Ethan replied.

"… Ah, right."

The figure spun around and faced the school. "Well, it's been nice chatting with you, but we'll need to cut this short. You've got a busy day today." He said. With that, he quickly suddenly vanished into thin air. Ethan blinked a few times, just making sure that his vision wasn't damaged in any way. He pondered on what he said.

Within a second, it clicked with him, causing him palm himself in the face. "Oh crap, that's right, the club selection's on today!" he said to himself. He looked at himself and saw that he was wearing only a pair of gym pants and a pair of sandals, deciding to forgo a shirt in case it got burnt in the process.

" _Better change before checking it out._ " Ethan thought before racing over back to the dorms.

…

"That's weird, if he's not here, where could he be?" Tsukune asked himself. After he went to check on Ethan, he saw a note sticking out from under the door, saying that he wasn't there but that he'd be back later.

Deciding to check on him later, he went over to the plaza, where he found Moka sitting on a bench. She noticed him and immediately rushed over to him. "Alright, Tsukune, let's find a club together!" she said.

"Alright then." He replied. He was looking forward to it.

However, the experience was less than pleasant. The first one they went to was the photography club, but the club leader seemed more interested in taking inappropriate pictures of Moka, so that one was off the list. The next club was the acupuncture club, with the leader of that club having so many needles sticking out of his head like a terrifying porcupine, scaring them both. Then there was the chemistry club, which tried to force a love potion on Moka.

After a number of other clubs later, they were both back on the benches, exhausted and trying to catch their breath.

"I'm pretty sure that they're all trying to kill us." Tsukune said.

"Well, it wasn't the most pleasant experience, I'll admit. But at least we saw all our options." She then let her head rest on her palm. "Still… nothing seems to click. Trying to find a club that we can both join is trickier than I thought."

Suddenly, a strong bout of commotion was occurring nearby. Curious as to what was going on, the two friends made their way over to the source. Surprisingly, there wasa huge number of male students gathered around the area. Tsukune and Moka broke through the crowds to reach the source. When they managed to do so, the situation was quickly explained.

In the centre of the crowd was a bunch of female students in bikinis waving at the boys and giving them flirtatious winks at the same time. As they all continued, one of them stood out in front of the group. She had long, blue hair, wore sea-shells in her hair and had a towel wrapped around her waist. She gave everyone a big, Friendly smile.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Tamao Ichinose and we're now allowing boys to join the swimming club." She said. With that, all the boys were either cheering or crying with incredible joy. She continued, "Anyone who joins up today will receive special benefits from our current members."

Many of the male students began to blush when they imagined what 'special benefits' meant. Tsukune noticed this and couldn't help but chuckle nervously. " _I wonder what Ethan would think if he were here?... Actually, it's probably best he isn't here._ " He thought.

His thoughts were interrupted when Moka called out to him. He turned to her and saw a confused look on her face.

"Are you alright, Tsukune?" Moka asked.

"Uh, yeah. It's just that I was thinking that Ethan wouldn't be happy with how the swimming club is getting its members." Tsukune explained.

"Really?" Moka asked again, to which Tsukune nodded.

"He doesn't like the idea of anyone selling themselves out in some form or another. I remember when he broke a guy's nose when he ordered one of his employees to dress up in a humiliating costume when she didn't want to. He never did anything like that again.

"Is he always so violent?" Moka asked.

Before Tsukune could answer, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his torso. He turned his head, half expecting Kurumu to be the culprit, but was surprised to see the student, Tamao, getting close to Tsukune.

"How about it, cutie, you want to join the club as well?" she asked softly into his ear. Tsukune couldn't help but blush from her being close to him. Moka, on the other hand, was completely appalled by her behaviour. Before she could say anything, Tsukune managed to free himself from her grip and went over to Moka's side.

"Well, that was close." Tsukune muttered to himself.

"Tsukune, are you alright?" Moka asked.

"Yeah, thanks." Tsukune replied. He looked back at the club and, as a result, an idea occurred to him. "Hey, how about we join the swimming club? I know they seem a little weird, nut it wouldn't be the first time we saw something like this. Besides, I'm pretty good at swimming. What do you say?"

After hearing Tsukune's proposal, Moka immediately fell silent. She then looked back at Tsukune with worried-looking eyes. "Do you… really want to join the club?"

"Uh, is something the matter?" Tsukune asked.

Moka fidgeted for a bit with her hands before responding. "It's just that… well… I don't like water that much."

Tsukune immediately felt disappointed. "Aw, really? I thought we finally found something we could do together." He said.

"No, no, no, no, i-if you really want to join, then… then I… " Moka tried to speak up, but couldn't find it in her heart to speak her mind.

Tamao came up to the two. She looked a t Tsukune and smiled. "Well, if your friend doesn't want to join, then you can join by yourself, after all, I'm sure a friend who doesn't consider your wants isn't worth your time."

Moka immediately felt like a knife had go through her heart. One of her biggest weaknesses was wanting to make everyone else happy before herself, and as such, if she didn't want to do something, she felt incredibly guilty.

"So, you both are joining then?" Tamao asked.

Moka walked up to her and nodded. "Yes, we'll both join!"

…..

"Christ, this is a waste of time." Ethan said to himself.

After returning to his dorms and changing back into his uniform, he made his way over to the plaza to check what clubs are up for offer. However, he found that none of the ones present were worth joining. They were either insane or were trying to make themselves look tougher than him. When the chemistry club made a formula that gave them builds like a steroid user, Ethan decided to test out his 'flame gauntlet' and sent them all flying. He still tried to find something interesting to join, but he had no luck.

"Why is it I'm only lucky in beating up bad guys?" he asked himself.

"Aw, don't beat yourself up like that?" came a voice from behind him.

He perked up and turned around, only to be surprised (pleasantly for once) by what he saw. Standing before him were two girls around his age. One was close to six feet with short bob cut, blond hairstyle, wearing the same version of the uniform as Kurumu. Beneath a pair of spectacles were a pair of brown eyes that showed interest and, for some reason, victory. The other girl had long, raven-black hair that was tinted white at the ends, as well as having… silver eyes. She wore the usual version of the school uniform. The girls seemed quite different to each other. The one in the spectacles seemed quite energetic and curious, however her from seemed… nervous? Shy? Ethan couldn't tell.

With his nerves still tense after being annoyed by the chemistry club, he wasn't in the mood for talking, but he tried to be nice all the same (Tsukune and the girls told him it would be better to try and be nice from time to time).

"Uh… hello?" Ethan said.

"Are asking us or actually saying hello? Wait, don't answer that, that was a bit rude, sorry, let me introduce myself; the name's Ann Archer, bookworm and detective in training. My favourite book is Sherlock Holmes "A Study in Scarlet", and I love cranberries." The first girl said.

"Umm…" Ethan was surprised by the girl, having said all that in under four seconds. He managed to pick up on what she said though. He then turned to the other girl and gave her a small wave. She looked at him briefly and smiled, giving him a small nod.

"Oh, c'mon, Rebecca, you were wanting to talk to him since he stopped the class rep and his goons. Don't waste your chance!" the girl, now known as Ann sad to the girl known as Rebecca.

Rebecca immediately blushed at what her friend said.

Ethan, noting how they had western names rather than Japanese names like most of the students, however, raised an eyebrow. "Meet me? Seriously? Normally people can't get far enough away from me."

"Well…" Ann started before walking up to Ethan and began to pulling Ethan over to Rebecca, shocking the silent girl even further. "I'd tell you why, but I think it's better if she says so herself."

"Ann, please don't." Rebecca said softly.

"AND SHE SPEAKS!" Ann said. When she was finished pulling Ethan, she took a step back from them both and waited for her friend to say something else. Ethan, still being confused by what was going on, opted to speak first.

"You said that you wanted to speak since the incident with the class rep. Did he do something to you?" he asked.

The girl nodded. "He, uh… he knew what I really am… and he bullied me over it. I was afraid to fight back. I didn't tell anyone because I was scared." She ten looked directly at him. "I want to say thank you. He hasn't been in school since you stopped him, so no one's afraid anymore. Thank you so much." She finished, quickly followed by a bow.

Ethan's face hardened. He knew what happened to the class rep. As a result, he remembered the hooded figure, and what he was capable of. His hand instinctively went over where he struck him this morning.

"No problem, I guess." He said.

The girl immediately smiled. Ann grinned at her friend.

A thought occurred to Ethan. "Hey, if you don't mind me asking, do you know of any good clubs around here? All of them so far seem too… freakish." He admitted.

Rebecca giggled. "Yeah, you're right there. I'd say the newspaper club would be the best choice. Oh, but the swimming club was also opening up to boys now. I bet there are going to be more guys now that Miss Akashiya has joined." She said.

"…Wha?" Ethan said, shock covering his face.

"Yeah, she and her friend Tsukune joined up a while ago. Aren't they friends of yours?" Ann said.

Ethan was silent for a moment before rushing off towards the school pool.

"Sorry girls, need to run, let's talk later though!" he said as he ran, creating a large dust cloud in the process.

The girls stood still for a moment. Then Ann punched her shy friend's shoulder and grinned at her. "Hear that? He wants to talk to you more. I knew you could pull it off."

….

Ethan ran like the wind as he made his way over to the pool, even going as far as using his flames to add a boost of speed.

" _Damn it! Why would Moka go near the water!? Her kind is weak against water!_ " he thought to himself. When he arrived, he heard the sound of a stereo going off. He briskly walked up the stairs and finally reached the pool. He saw the majority of the first years in the pool, on the sun chairs or near a huge karaoke machine. The place looked like it was set up for a huge party.

He didn't really pay attention to it though, as his main concern was Moka and Tsukune. He scanned the area and, fortunately, found Moka sitting by herself. She seemed unusually annoyed. Before he could make his way over, a girl with long, blue hair stepped out of the pool and blocked his path.

"My, my, MY. It's the famous Ethan Drake. What brings you to are humble abode. Are you here to join the swimming club?" she said.

"No. I'm here to pick up my friends Tsukune and Moka. Now get out of my way." Ethan said. He had given up being nice. When he tried to move, the girl wrapped her arms around one of his.

"Oh, come on. Why upset Tsukune when he's having so much fun?" she said. Ethan moved his eyes towards Tsukune, who was swimming contently… but was obviously upset by something. He then looked over to Moka. The situation then became clear to Ethan.

" _Don't tell me the retard got Moka to join the club with him. For Feck sake. I guess he just wasn't aware._ " Ethan thought.

"Besides, why waste your time with that pink-haired traitor of a friend who won't even swim with her best friend?" she said softly with a sinister tone.

With that, Ethan grasped one of her wrists and squeezed hard, causing her to let go out of pain. Ethan then threw her back into the pool and made his way over to Moka.

She heard the commotion and saw what Ethan did. She was shocked by his behavior, but was secretly pleased to see Tamao put in her place.

"Ethan? What are you doing?" she asked.

"Getting you out of here. I know you want to be with Tsukune, Moka. But what's the point if it's going to get you killed?" Ethan said.

"Ethan?" came Tsukune's voice.

The two on the ground looked to see Tsukune swimming up to them. Ethan knelt towards the edge. "Tsukune, listen, Moka can't stay here."

Tsukune widened his eyes. "Huh, why?"

Ethan whispered the next part into his friend's ear. "Vampires are weak against water. A single drop can cause unbearable pain. She needs to leave before she gets hurt."

Tsukune was shocked when he heard this. He looked at Ethan for a second before he looked over at Moka. "Moka, I'm so sorry, I didn't know." He said.

"Its okay, Tsukune, I should've told you from the start." She said.

"Oh, for feck sake, just move already." Ethan said.

"Geez, what's got your clams' steamiiiAAAGH!" Tsukune said. Before he could say what he wanted to say, he was pulled back into the water. What caught him was, in fact, Tamao. This time, however her skin has a number a scales growing on her skin, her fingers were webbed and she had fins coming out of her arms and her temples.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid Tsukune won't be going with either of you." She said. With that, her mouth immediately grew fangs and looked just about ready to bite down on Tsukune. Moka gasped.

"Leave Tsukune ALONE!" she yelled. She was about to jump in after Tsukune when Ethan shot out an arm, blocking her way.

"You can't go near the water. Leave these… fish girls?"

"Mermaids." Moka corrected him.

"Thank you. Leave the mermaid to me. How hard is one anyway?" Ethan said with confidence.

As if to answer the question, the other female members who had been watching the scene immediately took on forms similar to Tamao. Within seconds, the pool was filled with the sea maidens. Within seconds, one of the mermaids latched on to a first year boy and bit down on his shoulder. As she did, the boy aged at an accelerated rate, fainting when he was nothing more than an old man.

"Mmm, delicious." The mermaid said.

Ethan tensed his fist, and Tsukune had saw what had happened as well.

"WHAT THE HECK!" Tsukune yelled.

Ethan shook his head with annoyance. He then looked to his friend. "Hold on, moron, I'm on the way."

Ethan dived into the water and used his enhanced strength to swim more quickly to Tsukune. Some of the mermaids swam in aid of their leader, hoping to take him down. Ethan smirked at this, deciding to test the fire gauntlet trick he practiced with in the forest. He commanded the fire to engulf his arms, hoping to use the power to drive them away.

However, the flames wouldn't come alive.

"What the-" before Ethan could finish, the mermaids were on top of him. They grabbed onto him and pulled him under the water.

"ETHAN!" Tsukune and Moka yelled.

Tamao smirked. "Looks like Drake can't use his extra power in water. How foolish of him to try." She re-elongated her fangs. "I hope he drowns."

"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT!" Moka yelled.

"Why shouldn't I? I thought I would enjoy his life force, but he shoved me away. However, I will enjoy Tsukune's life force on my own."

"I WON'T LET YOU!" Moka yelled. With that, she jumped into the air and dived towards the water.

"MOKA, NO!" Tsukune watched in horror as his friend dived in. When she went in, the pool sparked with energy. Moka briefly popped back up, her face contorted with pain. She then slowly sank back down.

"Oh dear, that was unfortunate." Tamao said. She then chuckled, which was interrupted when a water basin appeared over her head and slammed down hard onto her. The pain caused her grip on Tsukune to loosen, which allowed him to escape.

"Leave Tsukune alone!" Yukari yelled.

Seeing this, a few of the mermaids swam to Tamao's aid. They jumped into the air, hoping to catch the young witch off guard. However, being in mid-air was their undoing, as a familiar blue-haired succubus lashed at them with her claws, taking them out of the fight.

"Don't think for a second we'll let you get away with this." She yelled. She hovered mid-air with a furious look on her face. "I had the BEST bikini ready to show Tsukune."

"Huh, speaking of which, where is he?"

Without any warning, a pillar of flame erupted from the water, with it an ear-piercing below of rage. Everyone covered their ears from the sound. When the pillar faded and the cry faded, someone landed at the edge of the pool. Ethan was back above ground.

If ever he was angry before, it was incomparable to the boiling rage he was feeling now.

"What… what is this?" Tamao asked in disbelief.

Ethan activated his flame gauntlets, seemingly ready to strike, but he was as still as a statue.

"Ethan, c'mon! What are you waiting for!?" Kurumu asked.

As if to answer the question, the pool began to move on its own, spinning in a large circle. As it did, the water and sky alike turned crimson, and bats flew down from the sky. All familiar aspects of a certain appearance. A few seconds after the bats entered the pool, an explosion from under the water erupted and silver-haired vampiress was back on the scene.

She landed right beside Ethan, with Tsukune in her arms. She glanced over at Ethan, noticing he was itching for action.

"Whatever you have planned, I suggest you take action before these Minos do something." She said.

"Minos?" Tamao asked. Her face was then plastered with anger. "I'll make you pay for that!" she yelled as she made her way towards her opponents. As she did, Ethan built up energy front beneath his feet and shot up into the air. When he reached a certain height, he shot down like a ballistic missile.

"What the heck is Ethan dong" Kurumu asked.

Ethan was then roaring at Tamao. " **DON'T THINK FOR A SECOND I'LL LET YOU GET AWAY WITH HURTING MY FRIENDS! IT'S TIME TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD!** " he yelled, his voice now more beast-like than ever.

She blasted into the pool. However, this time his flames were alive and well beneath the water. He landed both his fists on the ground in the pool, creating a huge crack and opening. The water was then drained from underneath, leaving the mermaids out of their element.

Tsukune, Kurumu and Yukari looked at him in awe as they saw his power, especially Yukari as she knew the fire shouldn't have been burning within the water.

Moka smirked at the pyromancer. "It seems that our friend had a bit too much anger under his belt." She said. She put Tsukune back down on the ground and leapt into the pool. Now that all the water was gone, she was able to fight back.

Tamao and the other girls were clearly afraid for their lives. "Wait, please, don't hurt us! We'll do anything, just please, stop!" she said.

"All of you… know your place." Moka said bluntly.

With that, she spun her foot around and knocked them all high up into the air. Only Tamao had landed back within the immediate area, landing in a nearby net. She was now defeated.

Tsukune and the other girls rushed up to the two fighters. After venting out his anger, Ethan seemed a lot calmer. However, the silver haired vampiress was less than happy with Tsukune.

"What were you thinking!" she yelled at Tsukune, smacking him in the face at the same time. "Don't you realise that she got hurt because of your carelessness? If you had paid more attention to Moka, then this never would've happened. Don't you realise she was close to tears because of your selfishness?"

Clearly, she herself was boiling with rage. With that, Ethan decided to step in. "To be fair, Moka, neither you nor the outer you didn't think to tell him in the first place. I know it wouldn't have hurt to do some extra research on his part, but we're not all perfect. Besides, he was completely freaked out with trying to keep her safe after I told him about it. Doesn't that count for something?"

She was silent for a moment, thinking about what Ethan said. When she was finished, she turned to Tsukune with a glare, causing him to jump.

"Don't let this happen again." She said. She held out her hand towards Tsukune, who responded by placing her rosary in her palm. Tsukune had managed to dive down towards Moka and pulled it off in the nick of time. Ethan had also seen Moka sinking for the bottom, causing him to lose himself to his rage briefly.

Now that Ethan was calm and the issue between Tsukune and Moka was solved, everything was back to normal. Ethan couldn't help but notice Kurumu and Yukari were dressed in swim suits, deducing that they were wanting to try and arouse Tsukune in the swimming club. He couldn't help but chuckle at them.

" _Well, at least they're making some kind of effort,,, I think._ " Ethan thought.

….

The next day, Tsukune had been apologising to the outer Moka non-stop for what he had done. Moka had already forgiven him from the start, of course, as she wasn't the kind to hold grudges.

"It's fine, Tsukune. We were all okay in the end, right?" she said. However, her face showed a hint of sadness. "Although, now we don't have a club to join. What'll we do?"

"Excuse me?"

Tsukune and Moka turned around and saw Miss Nekonome in a swimsuit and a sun hat, carrying a towel and a bottle of sun-block.

"Uh, Miss Nekonome? What are you doing?" Tsukune asked.

"Oh, I'm going over to the pool to do some tanning. Since it's the weekend, I thought I'd take the opportunity." She explained.

"Didn't you hear? The pool was destroyed yesterday. It won't be fixed for weeks." Moka said.

At that, the feline teacher's head hung low with disappointment. "Ooooh. I wanted to get a tan." She then perked up immediately. "I guess I can wait. Anyway, I heard that you guys were still looking for a club to join. I would like to ask if you guys are interested in joining the newspaper club." She said.

Tsukune and Moka were at a loss for words. Somehow, despite all the mayhem in their lives, they also had quite a bit of luck to boot.

"Uh, sure, I guess. It's not like we have a lot of options." Tsukune said, with Moka nodding in agreement.

"HOORAAAAY!" yelled the teacher immediately. "I finally have some new members! This is the best day EVER!"

The two students were a bit surprised by her strong reaction, but it was short lived when Tsukune was knocked down onto his back, with Kurumu currently sitting on top of him.

"If Tsukune's joining, so am I!" the succubus yelled.

A water basin appeared over Kurumu's head and slammed down hard, knocking her off Tsukune. Yukari bounced onto Tsukune soon after. "I'm in too!"

"Mind if I take a spot?"

Everyone turned to the direction of the voice and saw Ethan. Only now, he wore a black version of the school blazer, seemingly made of a type of leather.

"Ethan? What's with the jacket?" Kurumu asked.

"Ah, I asked the school board for some fireproof clothes, my other clothes kept burning off after I got my flames."

"Must be a pain." Tsukune said, who was in tears as he was suffering his own brand of pain.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders and turned to Miss Nekonome. "So, can I join the club too? I like the idea of reporting news to the school, good way to show some jackasses not to cause trouble in the school."

Miss Nekonome was more than happy to have him on board. "Oh, yes, thank you. Meet me after school on Monday so we can get started. Until then, enjoy your weekend." She said. With that, she dashed off.

Ethan turned back to his friends and saw them all arguing again. Once again, Moka took a sip from Tsukune, who became as dried up as a prune. He looked up into the sky and pondered on something.

" _Joining the club might also help me get resources to find out more on that guy. If he thinks he can keep messing around with me… I'm going to show him I shouldn't be messed with._ "

With that, he went over to his friends and helped Tsukune up and they all walked over to cafeteria to get something to eat. Just another eventful time at Yokai Academy.

 **[Well, that's that for this chapter.**

 **I'd like to apologize for not updating the story sooner. The ol' college work kept me busy and I needed time to rest afterwards. I planned to get this done by around Christmas, and mission accomplished.**

 **Also, in case there are any readers of Fairy Tail: Dark Void here as well, I'm also going to be getting back to that, no worries. Like they say on a number of TV quiz shows 'I started so I'll finish'.**

 **Also, I saw that there were a number of reviews since my last chapter, so all sum it all up, saying thanks very much for sharing your thoughts, you're all really sound.**

 **Well, see you all later, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!]**


	7. Cry Havoc

It was Saturday evening, school would be starting again soon, much to the disappointment of many students. Some, however, weren't quite as disappointed. In fact, they were buzzing. Tsukune and the girls were looking forward to starting their jobs in the newspaper club, thinking that they can act like detectives. The excitement hadn't faded in the slightest.

Ethan had been the only one in the group who wasn't going overboard with excitement. He was looking forward to it, of course, but he had his mind on other issues at the moment.

While they had ceased for a while, the nightmares of the fire had returned with a vengeance. After he used so much of his power the other day, the flames had somehow triggered them. Perhaps the flames reminded him of the pain he felt that night. Whatever the reason, he couldn't get the memories out of his head.

Ethan sat on the roof of the boy's dorm, wearing a short-sleeved leather jacket that reached down to his rib cage, training shirt, tracksuit pants and sneakers, taking in as much of the air and quiet peace while he could. Since coming to Yokai academy, he learned to savor the time of peace he had, as there would be something to disrupt it later on. He was, however, noticing that sleep was starting to take him, much to his displeasure.

" _Well… may as well get it over… over…_ " Ethan thought, unable to finish as he fell back into sleep.

…

 _Ethan was still traumatized after seeing the man crushed under the debris. Blood had seeped through the material, making its way over to the boy. Ethan quickly backed away from the blood, fear taking over. He was so afraid he didn't noticed that he accidentally got too close to a burning piece of wood and got his arm burnt._

 _Cried out in pain and moved away. Biting down on his lower lip, he fought back the pain and stood up. He looked around and, luckily, saw a doorway and ran as quickly as possible towards it. He saw that it lead to a hallway that didn't have too much flames in it. He ran like no tomorrow, hoping to get out._

 _He stopped when he heard someone screaming. He was debating whether or not to see what was going on. After a couple of seconds, he went against his better judgement and followed the screaming. He came across a dark room, untouched by the red sea of fire. He looked around and saw the outline of… something underneath more debris._

" _Hey… hey, are you okay?" he asked._

 _The shape moved. Its head rose, revealing to be taller than anyone Ethan had seen enter the hotel._

 _It then let out an ear-piercing scream that terrified Ethan, causing the poor boy to scream in response._

… _._

Ethan shot up onto his feet, bellowing instinctively as he was still suffering from the shock of the nightmare. The flame gauntlets he created the other day had activated as than whirled his head from side to side, expecting danger to come.

He was still for a few more seconds before he calmed down. The gauntlets faded and Ethan wiped sweat from his brow. As he did so, he noticed something unusual. He placed a hand on his cheek and noticed a thin stream of moisture. He realized that he had been crying.

He sighed, surprised that he was so easily terrified. As he pondered on the dream, he couldn't help but focus on the creature that had screamed at him in his dream.

" _What was that thing?_ " Ethan thought.

He looked around again and saw that it was night. Ethan pulled out his watch and saw that it was 4am. He rubbed his face, realizing he won't be going back to sleep anytime soon. As such, he jumped down from the roof, using his flames as a booster to slow down his fall.

He decided to walk around the campus, hoping it would clear his head. This idea was quickly shot down when he heard the sound of someone screaming. Reacting instinctively, he ran towards the source of the sound. The source, as it turned out, came from the girl's dormitory. At this, Ethan immediately cringed.

"I sure hope that no one will tear me to shreds for going near there." Ethan said to himself. When he arrived, he was quite surprised by what he saw. In front of the girls' dorms was a male student who was… two and a half feet, incredibly fat and wore a large pair of spectacles. The poor boy was covered in cosmetic powder and pieces of food. They were giving him awful verbal abuse, even Ethan wouldn't say what they were saying.

"PLEASE, LADIES, I'M JUST ASKING IF ANY OF YOU WISH TO PARTAKE IN A PLAY I'M WRITING! I KNOW IT'S ON TODAY AND IT'S A LITTLE LAST MINUTE, BUT PLEASE, WON'T YOU OBLIGE!?" the student said.

At that, the boy got more abuse and debris thrown at him. Left with no other option, he fled from the area. He seemed quite upset by his failure, as a number of tears started to pour down from his face. Ethan, after seeing all that happened, he weighed his options. For one thing, going straight over to the girls' dormitory this early in the morning and trying to talk to the girls wasn't the brightest idea. On the other hand, the guy looked desperate for some reason.

Pondering on it a little longer, Ethan made a decision. He followed the student, staying hidden in case any of the girls saw him. Luckily, it didn't take long for Ethan to catch up, as the other student wasn't in the best shape. He still seemed pretty upset.

"Hey, y'alright?" Ethan asked.

The other student turned around. As he did, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw that it was Ethan. After nearly pummeling all the bad eyes that came near him, he was something to be feared by villain and innocent alike.

"OH PLEEEASE DON'T HURT ME!" the student yelled.

Before he could say anything else, Ethan clamped his hand over the student mouth, out of wanting to keep the noise down and because the screaming was giving Ethan a headache. "Talk normally or I WILL tear your tongue out. Understand?" Ethan asked.

The student nodded. Ethan lowered his hand and scanned the boy once more. "Now, tell me why you were stupid enough to go to the girls' dorms this early in the morning? At all even?"

"Oh, I know it was incredibly foolish of me, but I needed to act quickly. You see, my name is Rodrigo Diablo, a second year student and president of the drama club. We had organised to put on a production of the human story 'Julius Caesar', but the actors for Mark Antony and Calphurnia fell ill. I thought I would ask the first year girls if they would like to play the part… but as you can see, it failed miserably."

"I keep telling you, how you fecking did it was a crap idea." Ethan said.

"If it's alright with you, can you cease with the cursing for a bit?" Rodrigo asked.

Ethan rolled his eyes before replying. "Alright, fine. So, this play of yours is on tomorrow, right?"

"Yes Mr Drake. Do you happen to know anyone who would be interested?"

Going against his better judgement and deciding to help him (since he really seemed like he needed assistance) Ethan decided to sit on the ground and rest his head on his right hand, much to the confusion of Rodrigo. He closed his eyes as he tried to remember something. He remembered someone saying that they loved Shakespeare and they know all the plays off by heart. He tried hard to remember who it was.

"Um… Mr. Drake? Are you alright?" the fat student asked.

"Yeah. Just give me a se…" before Ethan had finished, he remembered who the person in question was, and smacked himself in the forehead for not remembering sooner. "Son of a biscuit!" Ethan said, keeping in mind how Rodrigo doesn't like cursing.

"What is it?" Rodrigo asked.

Ethan turned to him and gave him a devilish smile. "I've got the perfect woman for you."

…..

"YAAAAAAAAY!" Moka screamed.

After Ethan agreed to help Rodrigo, Ethan thought Moka would be interested in taking part in the play. Even though her time in the human world wasn't the best, she found solace in Shakespeare's plays, finding them mesmerizing and addicting. She couldn't get enough of it and, as such, has memorised all of the plays.

He found her, as well as Kurumu and Yukari, out in the plaza. Moka was wearing a white t-shirt and denim jeans with a pair of sandals. Kurumu was wearing a long-sleeved v-neck shirt, slacks and sandals as well. Yukari wore a red sundress, running shoes, but kept her witch hat. Ethan guessed they decided to let loose since it was the weekend. When he offered the part to Moka she couldn't hold in her excitement.

"I never saw any of this guy's work before. Is it good?" Kurumu asked.

At that, a water basin appeared over Kurumu's head and slammed down on her. Yukari smiled. "It's only one of the most amazing classical tales of conspiracy, deceit and honour, etc. And with Moka involved, its quality shall reach new heights." The young witch said.

"Oh, Ethan, thank you so much. How can I repay you?" Moka said, clearly on board for the idea.

"You don't have to, we're friends, remember? Although… if you want to thank someone, thank the kid who had that flu for the past week, he accidentally gave it the actors." Ethan said.

"Actors… plural?" Yukari asked.

"The actor for Mark Antony is out of action as well. I was going to ask Tsukune if he wants a stab at it." Ethan explained.

"Heh, stab, good one." Yukari commented.

"Oh, that would be adorable." Kurumu said, imagining Tsukune wearing roman centurion armor and carrying her in a wedding dress.

"That would be lovely." Moka said, a similar fantasy manifesting in her mind.

"Hang on." Ethan said abruptly. The girls stopped daydreaming immediately. "I know it would be appealing to you girls to see the eejit in character, but we should ask if he wants to do it first."

"Awww." All the girls said, afraid that he might not be interested.

"Hey, guys!" came a familiar voice.

The group turned and saw Tsukune making his way over. Before he could say anything else, Kurumu zoomed towards him and shoved his head into her chest, much to the other girls shock and Ethan's amusement. "I'm telling you, those girls will be the death of him some day." Ethan muttered to himself.

"Kurumu! Let him go!" Moka said.

"Why should I?" Kurumu asked.

Ethan went up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She looked to him, where she saw him point towards his chest. She looked and saw that Tsukune wasn't moving.

"TSUKUNE!" Kurumu roared, horrified at the fact she nearly killed her beloved. The other girls were terrified as well, screaming at Tsukune to try and stay alive. Ethan just started at the scene, deciding what to make of it.

" _Well… it wouldn't be the worst way to die._ " Ethan thought. He decided to wait until Tsukune was away from the girls before springing the offer. He quickly felt a chill go down his spine. He motioned his eyes around, wondering what's causing him to feel this way.

" _If it's another retard trying to take over the school again… actually, let them try._ " Ethan thought, a sadistic smile forming on his face as he did.

As the scene continued to play out, none were aware that they were being watched by a couple of figures in the shadows of a couple of trees.

….

The stage was set, the props were ready, the actors were fired up for the performance, and the audience were just as excited. Many of them hadn't heard of the play before, and were interested to see what it would be like. Some weren't as enthusiastic, but were willing to try it all the same.

However, the one who was most excited out of all this was Moka. When she auditioned for the part of Calphurnia, she nailed the part. After that, news of Moka being in the play spread like wildfire, which is part of the reason for the huge crowd present.

Ethan was backstage, lying on a mattress and resting while Tsukune went back over his lines. After Tsukune was brought back to the realm of the living, Ethan offered him the part. He was unsure at first, but he changed his mind after Ethan mentioned Moka would be performing as well. As a result, Tsukune was on board, which caused Ethan to hold back a chuckle.

Fortunately, Tsukune and Ethan both studied Julius Caesar as part of a project back in middle school. Neither thought it would come in handy until now.

" _So mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to the word…"This was a man"._ Tsukune recited.

When he had finished, Ethan sat up and smiled at Tsukune and gave him a small applause. "Man, if you're not ready, then I don't know what you are."

"Thanks Ethan." Tsukune said, seemingly proud at having gotten the lines memorized again. Although, he had a nagging feeling in his stomach. Ethan noticed.

"Y'alright?" he asked.

"Well… I think things might be going a little too well. What if something happens during the play?"

Ethan made a fist and formed a flame gauntlet around said fist. "That's what security is for." Ethan replied with a grin. He extinguished the flames, then his face became serious. "Don't tell anyone this, but I think someone was watching us earlier today. They might be up to something."

Tsukune's brow rose with surprise. "What do we do?"

Ethan stayed silent for a moment, formulating a plan. He sighed briefly before answering. "Just play out things as normal and let me handle whatever comes. But. If you notice something unusual, give me a signal."

"What signal?" Tsukune asked.

"Blink really quickly, I'll see it."

Tsukune nodded in agreement. As soon as he did, the actors went backstage and the lights dimmed on the stage. Ethan looked out and saw Rodrigo, wearing a toga, saying a few words.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you all for coming here this evening. Tonight, you will bear witness to one of the greatest tales of the human world, and I dare say a particular favourite of our actors. Now, I shall finish with my annoying speech-" he said, the last part being something to get the crowd to laugh, which succeeded "- and say, enjoy 'Julius Caesar' by William Shakespeare!"

With that, he went backstage to where the actors were, taking a seat beside Ethan as the first scene commenced.

….

" _What mean you, Caesar? Think you walk forth? You shall not stir out of your house today._ " Moka said, showing true emotion and talent as she played her part. The audience and the actors alike were in complete awe.

Ethan, however, was half asleep as the play was currently in the second act. Shortly after the play started, he immediately remembered how bored he was when he read over the play. While he respected the work and how well received it was, as well as being very supportive to Moka and all she does, it was of little interest to the fire user.

If it wasn't for the nightmares, he would've allowed himself to fall asleep; unfortunately, after the last one with the beast, he was traumatized into not sleeping. Still, he was curious about what the creature actually was.

"What the hell was that thing?" Ethan muttered to himself, the image returning to him.

Suddenly, the same chill he got was sent down through his spine again. He looked around and saw two of the actors conversing in a corner. One of them handed the other an object wrapped in cloth quickly trying to make sure no one saw. Ethan, being slightly sharper about matters like this, noticed the object. The receiver then briskly walked away through a back exit to the outside.

Ethan quickly looked back to the stage, seeing all was in order at the moment. He then turned to Rodrigo, who was still sitting beside Ethan and completely focused on the play. Ethan nudged the smaller student, catching his attention.

"Rodrigo, I need a favor." Ethan whispered, to which Rodrigo nodded in response. "Tsukune and I think something bad is going to happen again. If Tsukune notices something, he'll be blinking really fast. Check out to see what the problem is. Got it?"

Rodrigo then looked deadly serious. "If anyone thinks they can get away with destroying the hard work the actors put into all this, then they will be very disappointed. You need not fear, Mr. Drake, whatever happens, I shall prevent it."

Ethan smiled at his determination and passion. "Good, I'll be back in a bit, need to check something." He said before taking off after the other student.

…

The student was outside, holding the mystery object in his hand. When he was sure that he was alone, he found a nearby tree and hid behind it. He sat on his backside and unraveled the wrapping to reveal the hidden object was a knife. He smiled as his eyes met the dreaded object.

"They won't even see what's coming." He muttered to himself.

Then, without warning, he felt the back of his head being held in a grip as tight as a vice, and then said head was thrusted towards the ground, releasing his grip on the knife. He tried to get himself back up, but whatever was pushing him down wouldn't release. This caused a small bit of panic to set in, which only intensified when a bright light appeared at the right side of his face… which was starting to burn the side of his face.

"Who won't see… _what_ … happen?" came an ironically chilling voice.

The actor recognized the voice immediately. The grip on the back of his head loosened, allowing him to look up to see who it was. He suddenly looked pale as he saw the infamous Ethan Drake, his eyes practically burning into his own.

"Let me GO!" the actor demanded.

"Sure… after you tell me what you are up to." Ethan replied, pulling back his fist and shoving the actor's head back into the ground. "And if I don't like what I hear, I promise you you won't be able to eat solid food again." He threatened.

The actor was silent for a moment, but then smiled and pushed himself upwards with great strength. Surprised, Ethan quickly rolled back, igniting both his arms as he readied for a fight.

"You will not get away with our plan." The actor said.

"…" Ethan stayed silent. The actor cackled with delight.

"What's this? Is the fearsome Drake afraid of me now? I'm not surprised, after all, those rumors seem like they were falls, you look like you can't even face off a-"

"Quit talking." Ethan said before he built up energy beneath his feet and zooming forwards, choosing to enhance his flames and give the opponent a strong uppercut. The student was sent flying up into the air screaming. Ethan watched him looked into the air for a moment before he turned his attention to the knife the student had held. He walked over and picked it up by the handle. He examined the blade, wandering what a single knife could do. After a moment however, he noticed something. He felt the edge of the blade… which led him to flicking the blade, causing it to wobble.

It was a rubber knife.

The student landed back on the ground, creating a crater in the ground. When the dust settled, the student seemed to be in great pain. His jaw seemed irregularly shaped. He certainly won't be eating solid food for a while. However, he tried his best to speak.

"Please… please… don't… hurt me." He managed to say.

Ethan looked at him with a stern expression. "Then tell me what you were planning to do with a rubber knife." He demanded.

"Nothing… they aren't… the ones… you… should…" before he could say any more, the pain became too much and started bawling with pain. Ethan went back to looking at the knife, wondering what he was talking about.

"Hmm." Ethan said, as he contemplated different ideas. Then, his head shot up as an idea formed in his head. "Oh, fffff…" he said as he realized what was going on. He then shot back inside, literally, to try and stop what was going on.

…

" _For I am as Constant as the Northern Star!"_ bellowed the actor for Julius Caesar.

Moka had finished her part as Calphurnia, having enjoyed it nearly as much as the audience, who enjoyed her performance. Moka was now watching the play with great enthusiasm, with Rodrigo sitting beside her as he also watched the play with great glee.

"Oh, this is going fantastically! I do hope the audience are just as appreciative." He said.

Moka looked at him with a kind smile. "Oh, they are. I think they all came for me, but now they seem to enjoy the show." She looked back at the stage, waiting for the main event of the play. No matter how many times she readied herself or read the play, this part always scared her. The assassination of Caesar.

"True, but it was quite a help all the same. You are truly a marvelous actress." Rodrigo replied.

"Thank you, Rodrigo." Moka said, blushing from the compliment.

Soon after, they turned back towards the play. However, before they could enjoy anymore, Moka something unusual. One of the rubber knives that were showed in the actor's hand. What was troubling was that the knife shouldn't be shining so much in the light.

" _Speak, hands for ME!"_ roared said actor as he raised the knife.

Moka gasped as she saw the knife raised into the air. She was about to move when, much to the surprise of everyone present, the stage had suddenly caught flame, which spread surprisingly quickly. The audience quickly panicked and made a quick dash for the exit.

The actor with the knife was briefly distracted. A figure shot from backstage and elbowed the actor in the center of his back. He dropped the knife, which prompted the figure to spin around and grab the fallen knife before shooting up into the rafters. The actor got back on his feet and looked around angrily.

"WHO DARES INTERUPT ME!" he cried.

"The guy who's planning on preventing murder." Came a voice that Moka, and Tsukune, who was resting on the same mattress Ethan used, recognized.

"ETHAN!?" they yelled simultaneously.

Ethan dropped down from the rafters and landed with a roll. With a click of his fingers, the flames were immediately extinguished.

"To all those remaining, we had ourselves a real-life conspiracy. The guys playing the conspirators purposefully got their parts so that they could take out the other actors!" Ethan explained.

"HUH!?" Rodrigo said, clearly confused.

Ethan quickly regarded him before turning back to the actor. "I know, I don't really know why they'd bother either." He glared at the actor. "How about filling us in?"

The actor glared back at Ethan. "Do you know how hard we had to work to get as good as we are? We spent hundreds of days trying to perfect our craft, and yet people who are 'naturally talented' come in and take the center stage for themselves, like we never existed. We will not stand for it any longer!"

Ethan's look slowly morphed from being angry to confused. "Seriously? You'd kill people because of pitiful jealously? Christ, you fuckers are sick."

At this, the actor immediately snapped at that comment. "HOW DARE YOU!" He said. His body suddenly began to shift in multiple places, before spikes burst from multiple areas and he began to grow in size. Also, his neck began to grow, becoming serpent like and his eyes becoming yellow with black slits for pupils.

Ethan, Moka, Rodrigo and Tsukune all watched as the transformation continued. When it was finished, the actor's main body had become that of a giant lion, only with scales instead of fur, and the long neck connected to a giant serpent head, which had a green gas emitting from its mouth as it breathed out.

Ethan glared at the creature, but also sported a smile. "This is new." He simply said.

"HYDRA!" Rodrigo roared. The poor person was unable to move any part of his body expect for his mouth, which he used to pray for any miracle that would save him.

The hydra heard him scream and looked at him, before it shot its head towards him. Ethan saw this and used his powers to dash ahead of the lizard. When he was at the right distance, Ethan held out his hands and waited for the hydra to impact. The creature had its mouth open, massive fangs bearing down on him.

However, Ethan was ready, and when the creature struck Ethan, the latter latched onto its fangs and had had him restrained. The creature was surprised that Ethan had it by the fangs, and now, for some reason, it couldn't pull away.

"Sucks to be you, huh?" Ethan asked the actor-turned-hydra.

"Nice one, Ethan." Tsukune exclaimed. He then looked around, hoping to find something to fight back with.

"I know what you're thinking, Tsukune! Don't interfere!" Ethan roared.

"Just let me find a blade or something!" Tsukune replied.

"And get into trouble by killing a student? Ha! Besides, it's too risky with this particular creature." Ethan said.

When he finished, the Hydra breathed out a large amount of the gas onto Ethan. As he did, Ethan became incredibly sleepy. He lost his grip on the creature's fangs, allowing it to pull back and raise its head high into the air. It readied itself to slam down on Ethan, thinking it would kill him. When it was ready, it came down and struck Ethan hard, obliterating the stage.

Tsukune ran to Moka and shielded her from the debris by hugging her and facing his back to the incoming projectiles. However, while the objects were heard coming their way, Tsukune heard them hit something else. He turned and was surprised to see what looked like a blue blob of slime shielding them both from the debris.

"What the…" Tsukune started.

The blob turned around, showing Rodrigo's, now blue, head looking down at them.

" **Are you both okay?** " he asked.

"Yes, thank you." Moka said. "Are you… an Aqua beast?"

"A what?" Tsukune asked.

" **An Aqua beast. We have the ability to morph our bodies into water and change our shape, as well as being able to capture anything and anyone with our bodies.** " He said, pointing to the debris now floating in his body.

They Hydra behind them laughed. They all turned towards it, to which the creature started to leer at them. " **If you think this will be enough to stop me, then you are foolish. If the mighty Ethan Drake couldn't stop me, what makes you think you can!?** " it asked.

" **You wrecked the play, destroying everyone's hard work.** " Rodrigo growled, becoming angrier by the second. " **Yes, there are talented actors, but what you don't know is that every, single person worked just as hard to make this play a success, work that you wasted.** " Rodrigo's form immediately changed. When it was finished changing, it was a water replica of the hydra, only with red, glowing, furious eyes.

" **YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH DESTROYING THE EFFORT THEY ALL PUT INTO THIS!** " he roared.

With that, Rodrigo elongated its neck and reached for his opponent's neck, which he bit into. This caused the enemy to cry in agony. He tried to escape, but it was too painful to move.

" **Let's see you try to do something now!** " Rodrigo cried. As soon as he finished speaking, the temperature of the room began to rise very quickly. Realsing what was going on, Moka and Tsukune quickly changed their glances to where Ethan was slammed into the ground.

"What do you think he'll do this time?" Tsukune asked Moka, sweat building up from nerves rather than from the heat.

His question was soon answered when a pillar of flame shot up from beneath the ground, turning into a massive trail as it began to zoom towards Rodrigo and the actor. Rodrigo saw this and let go of the Hydra, reverting to his regular form, evading just before the pillar to it collided with the foe. The Hydra slid back, crashing into the wall behind it. The creature was now outside, shaking off debris that had fallen on it.

The pillar had stopped moving after collided with the hydra, but when it was back up again, it made its way to the Hydra. However, instead of crashing into the creature, the pillar circled around it. It did so multiple times, eventually becoming a blur as it turned into a spinning inferno.

A ball of flame blasted out from the inferno, landing straight in front of it. The flames faded and revealed it to be Ethan. He wore a wide smile and cruel eyes as he stared at his handy work. He let out a small chuckle.

"Looks like I'm getting better at this." Ethan said to himself.

A few seconds later, the Hydra tried to burst out of the fire, but only got a severe burn on its nose as soon as it touched the flames. Ethan summoned fire in his hands and built up concentrated them into small, but bright spheres.

"Time to try something new." Ethan said to himself.

With all his strength, he threw the condensed balls at the Hydra, quickly running back into the building for cover. When he saw Moka, Tsukune and Rodrigo, he panicked.

"GET DOWN!" he roared as he blasted towards them, knocking them down. A second later, there was a large explosion that created a blinding light that they all shielded their eyes from. The light lasted for ten seconds exactly, to which Ethan shot back up and ran outside to check the damage.

He was met with a large crater and the actor in his human form within it, covered in ash and burns as he was groaning in pain.

"I… can't believe I lost." He managed to say.

Ethan gave him a cocky smile. " _Cry Havoc, and let lose the dogs of war_. Only they won't always work in your favour." He said before turning back and making his way to his friends. They all looked in amazement at what he had done.

"What was that?" Tsukune asked.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders. "I can control fire, remember? The key is having the imagination to use it. A wall of flames crashing into enemies, flame grenades, etc." he said casually.

"My, my, you are a truly formidable warrior, Mr. Drake." Rodrigo commented.

"I could say the same of you. Didn't know your kind were that powerful." Ethan replied.

"With all the mayhem here in the academy, it's good to practice every now and then." Rodrigo said.

Before they could speak any further, there was a huge applause from outside one of the doors. It opened immediately, revealing the entire audience from the show, with Yukari holding a mirror. She turned it around and revealed that it had showed all that had happened in the theater.

"Quite a fine performance from everyone, I must say." Yukari said.

Moka, Tsukune and Rodrigo all looked dumbfounded, but Ethan clicked his fingers and summoned a small flame. "If anyone talks about what happened here, I will personally incinerate you." He threatened, causing the crowd to sweat with fear and nodding.

Satisfied, Ethan extinguished the flame and the crowd ran for their lives. Only Yukari and Kurumu, the latter having been trampled on as she was in the middle of the flustered crowd.

"That hurt…" Kurumu whined.

""I told you to hang out at the front." Yukari said.

Moka turned to Rodrigo and bowed to him. "I'm so sorry things didn't turn out as expected." She said.

"Oh, no need to apologize. It wasn't your fault. Besides, I have yet to experience a performance where we don't run into some kind of problem." He said.

"Problem? WE nearly got killed!" Tsukune cried.

"And that's different to every other day… how?" Ethan joked.

Tsukune remained silent, prompting everyone else to laugh.

…

Due to the extensive damage done to the school last night, it had to be closed for a few extra days. The actor who had caused all of this was suspended, making sure that he wouldn't cause any more harm to the other students for a while, at least.

Fortunately, while many had seen Rodrigo's water form, everyone stayed silent so as to protect him, having gotten a great deal of respect after they all saw how he could handle himself in a fight. In fact, there were a lot more women going over to him and asking for auditions for any upcoming plays, many giving him flirtatious winks, resulting with him either blushing or fainting.

Meanwhile, Ethan and the crew all decided to use the extra day to relax, hanging out by the cliffs in their weekend gear. They all just sat by the edge and stared out into the crimson sea.

"Are there any other red seas in the Yokai world?" Tsukune asked.

"There are tons, I think. Noe of them are nearly as nice as this one, though." Yukari answered.

" _Nice_ " Ethan thought. He then shook his head and continued to look out to the water.

They stayed silent for another moment before Moka broke the silence. "Does anybody think about what we might do after school?"

"Scientist for me." Yukari answered again.

"Uh… haven't a clue." Tsukune said honestly.

"… Manga artist." Ethan said.

"Wow, nice." Kurumu said. She then looked at Tsukune and, with a cunning look in her eye, leapt onto him and began her usual routine with trying to seduce him. "I know I'll be Tsukune's wife in the future." She said happily.

"Like hell! Tsukune doesn't belong to you!" Yukari yelled, jumping onto Kurumu's head, trying to free him.

Ethan shook his head at the display, reminding himself how those women would be the death of him. He took in a deep breath before saying "Three… two… one."

"TSUKUNE IS MINE!" Moka roared before latching herself onto Tsukune once again draining him dry of blood.

Ethan raised his arms into the air and slowly lowered them as he said "And… scene."

 **[There we go, another chapter down, many more to go. Let me tell you, while I enjoy writing these stories, it's difficult trying to find the time to do them. Still, it hasn't deterred me before, and nor shall it in the future.**

 **Just to let you all know, the story will go back on track to the original story, just thought I'd try something different here. I was debating whether or not for the characters to be fighting in this one, but I thought, ah, no need to change a good thing. Hope everyone liked Rodrigo, a character I had planned out for a while. Thought it would add something new to the story.**

 **Well, that's all from me for the moment. If anyone has anything to say, whether it be a compliment or if you want to rant about things you didn't like, feel free to do so. See you later]**


	8. Reporting' for duty

"Oh, look at him." Kurumu said cutely, as if commenting about a baby.

After school had ended for the day, Tsukune and the girls had made their way to the room where they were to meet for their first day in the newspaper club. When they arrived at the room, they found Ethan in one of the desks, sleeping peacefully on the surface.

The girls couldn't help but be heart-warmed by how peaceful he looked, as he would normally be quite… dark, to say the least. Tsukune, however, was a lot more relieved. He heard that Ethan was having nightmares again, and was worried it would take a strong toll on his health. The last time he had nightmares, they went on for weeks, nearly causing him to die from sleep deprivation. It was good to see that he was getting a break.

"He's cute when he's like this." Moka couldn't help but say.

"Yeah…" Yukari said, quickly followed by "Let's wake him up."

Kurumu and Moka both shook their heads in disagreement. "Please don't, he looked like he needed the rest earlier." Moka said, recalling how tired Ethan had looked during the incident with the play. She thought that it was just from the play, since she knew that theater wasn't his thing; but she soon learned what else was going on.

"Well we can't have him asleep on the first day of the newspaper club, can we?" Yukari pointed out.

"Yukari has a point, sorry." Tsukune inputted.

The other two girls looked disappointed. However, they, along with Yukari and Tsukune, all jumped when they heard a blood-curdling scream of terror go through the room. When the screaming faded, they all turned to see Ethan sitting up in his desk, gripping the desk tightly and breathing heavily while his eyes were as wide as plates.

"Ethan! Are you alright!?" Tsukune asked frantically as he ran to Ethan.

Ethan got his breathing back under control and turned to Tsukune. "Yeah… yeah, I'm fine. But, damn it, that was a crazy dream."

"Were they… were they the usual nightmares?" Tsukune asked.

"Usual… nightmares?" Yukari asked with concern.

"Relax, Yukari, nothing to worry about." Ethan said reassuringly. Yukari wasn't convinced, but she let the matter drop. Ethan turned back to Tsukune and proceeded to answer his question. "No. This time, it was a whole different ball game. Not as bad as the other ones, but… fecking hell, I hope that never happens in real life."

"Real life? What was the dream about?" Kurumu asked.

Before Ethan could answer, the classroom door opened up and Miss Nekonome popped in with her usual happy attitude. The rest of the gang took their seats and waited for her to get ready, which took a little longer than expected because she dropped her bag, causing all her reports and stationary to spill onto the ground. She picked them all back up and got to work on introducing the club.

"Okaaaay! Welcome to the Yokai Academy newspaper club! Glad to see you all here." Miss Nekonome said.

Ethan quickly scanned the room, noticing something was a bit unusual. He saw that Tsukune was thinking the same thing when he asked Miss Nekonome a question.

"Uh, excuse me, ma'am. Are we the only ones in the club?" Tsukune asked.

"Oh, no. We actually have one other member on their way. I think he's running a little late." She said.

As soon as she was finished speaking, the door opened again. They all turned. The students, aside from Ethan, were surprised to see a pair of legs underneath the largest collection of flowers they had ever seen.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. I just had to pick up a few things on the way over here." Came a voice from behind the roses.

"Well I'll be damned, a talking flower monster. That's a new one." Ethan commented, to which his friends to chuckle. The person holding the flowers also laughed from behind the flora.

"That was a good one, nice job." said the voice. The person laid down the bunch of flowers, revealing himself to be a student, slightly older than the rest of them, sporting short black hair, a red hairband and dark eyes. He had a calm expression, one that seemed to catch the girls' attention. One of Ethan's eyebrows rose as he saw the new face, sensing something unusual about him. It was even more unusual than what he had seen so far, and that was saying something.

"Nice to meet you all. The name's Ginei Morioka. But you can call me Gin." He said. When he was finished speaking, he gave one bouquet of flowers to Moka, then to Kurumu, and then gave a single rose to Yukari, who seemed quite pleased with the gift.

"Thank you." Yukari said.

"What, nothing for us?" Ethan said casually and sarcastically, catching Gin's attention.

"Oh, uh, sorry, I forgot. Ethan Drake, right? Great to meet you at last, heard a lot about you."

"Funny, I heard nothing about you." Ethan said honestly.

Hidden behind cheerful smiles, they both stared at each other, neither planning on backing down any time soon. Tsukune and the girls noticed this, but stayed silent. Knowing Ethan, getting in his way of anything could lead to very painful results.

Miss Nekonome was oblivious to this however, still being wrapped up in her excitement over the club finally commencing. It came to a quick end, however, when she remembered something, causing her ears to perk up. She turned to the students and gave them a quick smile.

"Sorry, I just remembered that I have a meeting to get to. Gin, I'll let you do the rest." With that, she rushed out the door saying "HAVE FUN!"

Gin walked over to the teacher's table and stood assertively as he prepared to speak. The rest of the group took their seats, all sitting beside each other. Most of the group seemed happy, but Ethan remained passive, seemingly, but he was still keeping a sharp eye on the club leader. There was still something off about him.

"Alright, everyone. Here's what this club is all about. Our job is to report what is going around the school, whether it be big or small. It is our DUTY to make sure every student is aware of what is going on, even if it means going through heaven or hell to get the truth!" Gin said passionately.

Ethan slightly raised an eyebrow, partly because he was surprised by the club leader's passion for the club, but mostly because he thought that all the effort he said was needed was unnecessary.

"Really? To be fair, there hasn't been that much happening to fill a whole newspaper. Granted, stuff like the swimming club incident and the play are newsworthy, but still, is there usually anything else like it?" Ethan asked.

To this, Gin chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. I was just kidding about the dangerous part. But there' still a lot going on here in the academy. You just need to know where to look."

Ethan was silent for a moment before he shrugged. "Alright, then." He then rested his head on his right fist before speaking again. "So, what now?"

Gin scratched the back of his head. "Well, now we need to find stuff to report. Anyone here of anything going on recently so we can make a good start?" he asked, looking at the whole group.

Kurumu and Yukari shot up from their seats.

"We should investigate that peeping tom that's been going around the school!" Yukari said.

"Peeping tom?" Ethan and Tsukune asked simultaneously.

Kurumu decided to explain. "Someone's been going around the girls' dorms, changing rooms and showers trying to get a peek of the girls without their clothes on. It's been going on for a couple of weeks now."

"Yeah, stupid pervert!" Yukari followed up.

Ethan's hand started to heat up, causing it to glow read. he didn't like that someone was invading the girls' privacy like that. He lowered it so that Gin didn't see it and suspect anything. "You guys are only saying this now?"

"We wanted the guy to be punished, not torn to shreds. It'd be too messy." Kurumu said.

Moka had remained silent through the whole conversation, unnoticed by Ethan. He turned to Gin and asked his opinion on the matter.

"Sounds good to me. Okay, I got some gear that you'll need to interview any witnesses or anyone who might know someone. Ethan, Yukari, Tsukune, you guys head off. I need Kurumu and Moka's help with something."

"Sounds good to me." Tsukune said.

"Oh yeah, lets do this!" Yukari said, holding up her fists in a fighting stance. Clearly, she was keen on bringing this person down.

Ethan remained silent, but nodded towards Yukari before quickly glancing back at Moka. He then spoke.

"I think I know someone who can help us. You guys head off to the Sherlock Holmes club and find a girl call Ann. Moka, can I talk to you for a second, please?"

Moka came out of her silent spell and turned to Ethan. She lightly shook her head and nodded to him. Yukari and Tsukune went off while Ethan and Moka went just outside then room. Ethan rested on the wall while Moka stood still and fidgeted with her hands.

"What's go you down, Moka?" Ethan asked. Moka was about to speak, but Ethan quickly raised his hand and said "And don't try to deny it, I saw you spacing out the same way I would do it, now spill the beans."

Moka was silent for a few seconds before answering. "I… Ethan, those nightmares of yours have been getting worse, haven't they? That last one you had there had you screaming like you were dying. I… I just want to help. But I don't know what to do."

Ethan stayed silent for a moment before taking in a deep breath and exhaling. "Alright… Moka, I appreciate the concern, but there's no need. Besides, this one had nothing to do with the others." Ethan saw that Moka was still unconvinced. He sighed, realizing that Moka wasn't buying it. When he said it wasn't as bad as the other dreams, it was... misleading. To him, it was far worse. "Okay… I'll tell you what it was about. But don't you dare tell anyone."

Moka didn't like the idea of keeping secrets, but if it meant getting Ethan to talk, then she had no choice.

"Okay." She agreed.

…

Yukari and Tsukune made it to the club room that Ethan was talking about. They saw that there was a club right next door, so Tsukune volunteered to see if anyone in there knew of anything. So Yukari took the liberty of knocking on the door. The person who answered it was a girl with short, blond hair, brown eyes and glasses. The girl at the door gave Yukari a friendly smile.

"Hi, how can I help you?" she asked.

"Hello, my name is Yukari Sendo. I'm here to inquire if you have any information on the serial peeping tom that's been terrorizing us ladies these past couple of weeks." Yukari said professionally and confidently.

"Really?" the girl asked with a mischievous tone of voice. "By any chance did a silver-haired looker recommend for you to come here?"

"IF you're referring to Mr. Drake… yeah, he's so cute." Yukari answered, suddenly sounding like a teenage girl. They both started to giggle to themselves and with each other for a minute before getting back on topic. "I'm guessing your Ann, then."

"Yep. And to answer your question, Ms. Sendo, I do happen to know something thanks to an encounter I had last week. I nearly had the damn pervert!" the girl answered, slamming her fists together.

"Any chance was this person in a monster form at the time?" came a familiar voice to both girls.

They both looked to the direction of the voice and saw Ethan casually resting on the corridor wall. He gave Ann a two-fingered salute, to which she responded in kind with a similar salute.

"Hello, Ethan. Haven't seen you since the club openings. I'm guessing you joined the newspaper club, then." Ann said.

Ethan gave her a small smile before saying "Yep. Was that... Elementary?"

At this, Ann rolled her eyes. "Okay, before I say anything else, that word was only used once within all of the books, and it wasn't even followed by a 'my dear Watson' in it. I've got no disrespect for the movies, but by god the over use nearly drove me nuts." She said strongly.

As soon as she finished speaking, a scream erupted from the room next door. Tsukune burst out of it, screaming like a man possessed as he saw Ethan and crashed into him, soon clamping on to him for dear life. This bewildered Ethan.

"MUMMY! MUMMY!" Tsukune screamed.

"I'M NOT YOUR FECKING MUMMY!" Ethan roared back as he tried to peel Tsukune off, but to no avail. He kept trying as he turned his attention to Ann again. "Please tell me what you know before THIS eejit drives ME nuts."

Ann was a little surprised to see what was going on, but answered Ethan's question. "Uh… right. The guy was peeping on me when I was changing into my swim gear for gym. It became dark in the room, so I looked over towards the window and saw a beast with glowing, yellow eyes and… I think a dog's head."

"Dog head?" Yukari asked.

"Yep, I roared at the punk and threatened to tear him to pieces… but before I could he just, I don't know, vanished… like… ' _zip_ '!" she continued.

At last, Ethan managed to pull Tsukune off of him and threw him onto the ground. He looked back at Ann. "A fast moving dog, huh? Yukari, you know anything like that?"

Yukari didn't answer. Instead, she looked worried and her legs were starting to shake. Ethan was about to ask what was wrong when Yukari pointed behind Ethan and screamed "MUMMY!"

Ethan was about to give out, being annoyed that she was acting like Tsukune now, until he heard a low moan behind them. He turned and saw a student walking up to them, he was covered in bandages.

"That's Arai, a new member of the Egyptology club next door to us." Ann explained.

"Ah, a _mummy_." Ethan said in understanding, at last. He then looked down at Tsukune and slammed his fist into the top of Tsukune's head. "WHY DIDN'T YOU FECKING SAY SO!?" he asked.

Tsukune was about to answer when Yukari latched onto him, hugging so hard she might end up breaking his ribs.

"HELP ME, TSUKUNE!" she cried, only to receive short gasps of air in response.

Ethan sighed and turned to Ann, who seemed like she was holding back a fit of laughter from what she was seeing.

"Any chance are all the other clubs like this?" Ethan asked.

"Nah, they're a lot more boring." Ann answered. She then perked up and asked "Will I tell Rebecca you guys said hi?"

"Sure, tell her we should meet up again as well." Ethan answered back. He then looked at his two companions. "Come on you two, let's head back." He said.

Tsukune managed to get up, allowing Yukari to jump onto him and dangle off of him like a cape from his neck, and they all waved Ann goodbye, who also waved back. When they were gone, Ann peered back inside the room and said "You can come out now, you wimp."

Rebecca slowly peered out from the inside, looking from side to side. Her face was bright red. "Did he really say… we should… meet up?" she asked Ann.

"Damn, you've got it bad, girl." Ann said. She shook her head and motioned for them to go back inside. "You know you're never going to get anywhere unless you build up more confidence, right?"

"I know… but I don't know how?" Rebecca answered.

"Well… I guess it will come in time. Now come on, time to get back to 'the crawling man'"."

…..

"So you two DID watch that mummy film without me. I've never been so ofended." Ethan said sarcastically. Tsukune and Yukari picked up on it, but apologized all the same.

"We're sorry, we just really wanted to see it." Tsukune said.

"Yeah, and I didn't think a black and white horror movie would scare me so much." Yukari said.

"Well, next time think before you do." Ethan answered. They were not too far away from the club room, deciding to head back and record what they learned. Ethan was on edge after hearing Ann's story. " _Glowing eyes, dog head, that kind of speed. Don't tell me this guy's a-"_

"Guys, we're back, and we got some…" Yukari started, but stopped abruptly for some reason.

"Huh? Yukari, are you okay?" came Moka's voice.

Ethan snapped out of his daze and looked at Yukari, who's face was a mask of shock and anger. Ethan turned to wear she was looking, only to see Moka and Kurumu on chairs putting up posters high up on the wall, standing on chairs and their undergarments in plain view. Gin was kneeling on the ground, oblivious to Yukari, Tsukune or Ethan as he was looking up the girls' skirts.

"WHAT… THE… BLEEDING…" Ethan wasn't able to finish, instead letting his body temperature raise. Tsukune and Yukari expected Ethan to explode into a ball of flame, up instead were surprised to see… steam, of all things, come out of his ears.

"Steam? That's a new one." Tsukune said to himself, turning his attention away from the girls.

"What's going on you guys?" Kurumu asked.

"THAT PERVERT UNDERNEATH YOU IS LOOKING UP YOUR SKIRTS WHILE GETTING YOU TO PUT UP THOSE POSTERS!" Yukari screamed.

This caused Moka and Kurumu to jump, and Gin to snap out of his gaze and quickly back away. The girls jumped down from the chairs and pull their skirts down in hopes it would cover themselves more.

"Wh-what are you guys talking about?" Gin asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb, we all saw you!" Tsukune said confidently.

"Hey, if I'm guilty, that makes you guys just as guilty for seeing them, how would I know that their panties would show?" Gin said, clearly making the worst defense in the history of the planet.

"Caught red-handed so you try to pass the blame onto someone else?" Ethan asked, managing to cool off enough to speak. "Just like the average criminal." He said.

Gin tried to say something else, but was quickly interrupted when Moka went up to him and smacked him hard across the face. Ethan was surprised like this, never seeing her lash out like that unless it was in defense of others.

"What you did was… so gross. But I'm willing to give you another chance. Please don't do anything like this again." She said.

With that, The girls left the room, with Tsukune following behind. Ethan stayed behind and continued to glare at the second year, which caused Gin to shake with fear.

"Moka may be a pretty forgiving person, but I'm not. So give me one reason why I shouldn't cave your skull in." Ethan said with a slight growl in his voice.

"Look, I know what I did was wrong, but I couldn't help it. Please, I know how to make it up to you. I think I know where the peeper is going to strike again." Gin said.

Ethan was glaring for a few seconds longer before he calmed himself down and decided to hear him out. However, he knew, from the way that Gin was acting, that he was planning something else entirely.

" _If you think you can cod me out, you're in for a big surprise, pal._ " Ethan thought, formulating a plan of his own.

…

The next day, all seemed quite normal. Moka was in her positive mood again, which Tsukune was happy to see. Kurumu was still a little annoyed, as well as Yukari, but both stayed silent about it, not wanting to cause any more trouble than what had happened yesterday.

However, what had irked the whole group was that Ethan was missing. He hadn't turned up for a single class. While Yukari wasn't in the same homeroom as the rest of the group, she was with him for chemistry and art, as was surprised that he would miss the latter. He was doing pretty well in art.

There was fifteen minutes before the last class of the day came to an end. As Miss Nekonome was teaching history, the door slid open, revealing a confident-looking Ethan. Tsukune, Moka and Kurumu looked at him with surprise and relief, glad to see he was okay.

"Oh, Mr. Drake!" Miss Nekonome started. "I'm glad to see that you're alright, but I'm afraid that we're nearly out of time, I'm sorry." She continued.

Ethan raised an eyebrow, slightly amazed that she was apologizing for _him_ being late. He shook it off before speaking. "No need to worry… I guess… but I've been collecting interesting information that many of the students present would like to know." He said, a malevolent smile appearing on his face.

Oh, what is it?" Miss Nekonome asked, her tail waving around excitedly.

Ethan pulled out his phone and connected it to the room's projector. After a couple of taps on his phone, the projector was brought to life. The first image it showed was of Gin hiding behind a wall, camera in hand, taking pictures of some girls in their gym gear.

"Exhibit 'A', as I like to call it. Now, Exhibit 'B'." Ethan said.

The next picture showed Gin peaking in through a window. The angle at which the picture was taken showed that it was the girls' changing room. This caused many of the girls in the class to shake with anger, while Miss Nekonome was afraid of what the outcome will be from all this.

"And finally, Exhibit 'C'." Ethan pulled up the final photo, which showed Gin accidentally pulling out a number of photographs from his jacket pocket. A number of students gasped when they recognized that they were pictures of victims of the peeping tom.

Ethan turned off his phone, causing the projector to go blank. He faced the class with a small smile. "Sooo… thoughts?"

The girls in the class, except Moka, all stood up with anger in their eyes.

"WHERE IS THAT PERVERT!" one of them said.

"I'LL KILL HIM AND USE HIS SKULL AS MY CAT'S LITTER-BOX!" came the voice of another.

Ethan chuckled slightly. "Well, if you really want a piece of him, I'd recommend you hurry, there's a mob already ahead of you."

As soon as he said that, there was the sound of angry screams outside. Everyone went to the windows and saw Gin being chased down by a horde of furious women, all wanting to tear him to pieces.

"PLEASE, HAVE MERCY ON MEEEE!" Gin cried out in vain.

Back in the classroom, another girl spoke up. "C'mon, girls, let's get him!" and with that, all the girls sped out of the classroom, nearly crashing into Ethan as they did so. When they had all left, all who remained were a little bewildered. Ethan couldn't blame them. He scanned the classroom and saw that Kurumu and Moka were still seated.

"What? You girls don't want a piece of the action?" he asked.

"Ah, those other girls will do the job for us." Kurumu said.

"Well… I don't really like violence anyway." Moka answered truthfully.

Ethan turned to Miss Nekonome, who was still trying to figure out what to say after all this. After a moment, she said "Well… class is over anyway, so… bye everyone." And with that, she ran out the door more quickly than the girls, thinking it would be best to do for the moment.

Ethan turned back to the crowd, mainly Tsukune, Moka and Kurumu. "C'mon, let's go."

…

A couple of hours after the whole event, Ethan went up to the rooftop where he allowed himself to be lost in thought. At this particular time, he was trying to figure out what the creature he saw in his usual dreams was. As he did so, he shivered.

" _What is wrong with me? I've gone up against stuff that would scare other people to death. Why am I scared of this thing?"_

"Ethan?"

Ethan was snapped out of him dream when he heard his name being called, turning to see a worried looking Moka. Ethan calmed down a bit.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked.

"That's what I wanted to ask you." She said. She walked up to Ethan's side, suddenly grabbing hold of his hand. This startled Ethan.

"Moka, what the he-" before he could finish, Moka wrapped her arms around him, causing Ethan to stiffen up like a statue. After a few seconds, Ethan spoke.

"Moka, I'm sure you're trying to be nice, but you have exactly three seconds to let go before I burst into flames."

Immediately, Moka released her hold on him and back-stepped, looking a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to help. After you told me about the creature in your dreams. How it… it terrified you like that… I just want to help."

"And I appreciate that, Moka, really, but the only thing that will help is finding that thing and knocking seven shades of shhh… crap out of it." Ethan said, deciding to hold off on the cursing for now. He turned towards the distance.

Moka stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "What did you say the creature looked like?" she asked.

"… Some kind of bird, I think. Wings with yellow, no, gold feathers, but they were covered in blood at the time. It had glowing eyes, had this, I don't know… aura surrounding it at the time. When it saw me, its cry was so strong I'm surprised I'm not deaf after it. Does that help? Moka?"

Ethan turned back to Moka, who wore a face of fear and disbelief. A face he hadn't seen since Tsukune told her he was human.

"Are you alright?" Ethan asked.

"Golden feathers… aura…" Moka muttered to herself. She then looked back at Ethan with a look of realization. "Ethan, that creature you saw was-"

"WHERE IS HE!?"

Moka stopped when she heard someone shouting. The door to the roof burst open, revealing a severely bruised Gin. He was not happy.

"HOW DARE YOU! BECAUSE I YOU I'M GETTING SUSPENDED. DON'T YOU REALIZE HOW YOU'VE GARNISHED MY REPUTATION!?" gin roared.

"Weeeell… next time, maybe you _shouldn't_ go around peeping on women and upsetting them. What do you think, good idea?" Ethan said in a sarcastic tone.

Moka, who was clearly more worried about this than he was, stepped back behind him. "Can't we just talk about this?" she asked, hoping to find a peaceful solution to all this.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL!" Gin roared. As he did so, his form began to change. He grew fur all over his body, claws growing out of his fingertips, a tail growing from his backside, his legs turning into hind legs and his face taking on the form of a wolf.

"A werewolf!" Moka gasped.

"Ah-HAH! I knew it!" Ethan said, having suspected a werewolf was responsible after his talk with Ann. He looked back at Moka. "Sorry, but I think anything _peaceful_ went out the window ages ago."

When Gin's transformation was complete, he stared angrily at the two. " **Which one of you want's to die first?** " he asked.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought you liked Moka. Isn't that why you gave her the flowers?"

"I think he's too far gone at the moment." Moka answered.

Ethan slowly nodded. Then, he walked forward, igniting his flames on his arms. Moka tried to pull him back, but his flames were too intense for her to get anywhere near. Ethan cracked his knuckles as he continued on his way. "Well, if you're up for it, I wouldn't mind going a round or two." Ethan said.

" **Exactly what I hoped for**." Gin said before vanishing from sight.

Ethan was surprised by this, but not nearly as surprised as when he felt a strong impact on his stomach that sent him skidding backwards. Ethan didn't go too far, but he held his hand up to his mouth, feeling the contents rising. He gulped it back down and faced Gin with a smile.

"Wow, you're fast. Guess what they say about your kind is true then." Ethan commented.

" **Correct. We werewolves are also 'S-class' monsters, being feared all across the world. However…** " before he could finish, he vanished again and reappeared behind Ethan, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him high up. " **While vampires are famous for their strength, we werewolves rely on speed. Our power comes from the almighty moon, granting us her incredible power. And with the moon as she is now, I am at my full power.** " He said, making reference as to how the moon was full this evening.

Moka watched in horror as her friend was being dangled in the air like that. She was about to move when she heard a small laugh coming from Ethan. His flames went out and, as soon as he did so, hoisted up his legs, bringing his arms behind him to grab gin's arm, and then threw him over his head and down directly onto the floor, causing him to release his grip on Ethan. When he was free, he dashed back.

Gin got back up onto his feet, unsure of what just happened. Before he could say anything, he heard the door open behind him. He turned and saw Tsukune, Kurumu and Yukari, all now surprised to see the beast in front of them.

Ethan smiled. He readied himself and rushed at Gin, going low and then shooting his fist up into Gin's jaw as he turned back towards Ethan. The impact was enough to send him flying up high into the sky. Ethan looked back at his friends with a smile, who all just looked at him with bewilderment.

"Uh… did something happen?" Tsukune asked.

"Long story short, gin's a werewolf, he's pissed, wants to kill me, but I've got the edge." Ethan answered. He looked back up and saw that Gin was coming back down. Formulating a new plan, Ethan stood still for a moment. The temperature around him began to grow. As it did, Ethan's skin became so red that it looked like he was sun burnt, shocking his allies.

"Oh MY GOSH! Ethan, are you okay!?" a worried Yukari asked.

Ethan didn't answer. Instead, he looked up and saw that Gin was preparing to strike Ethan. When he was within reach, Gin threw a punch at Ethan, who casually held up his forearm in defense. Gin struck the arm, but quickly pulled it away as a sizzling sound came off his fist after touching Ethan. He pulled back and jumped high into the air, speeding towards him as he aimed his foot for Ethan's heart. As he did so, Ethan held up his arms in a cross, acting as a makeshift shield as Gin kicked him hard. Ethan was sent skidding back, while Gin dropped to the ground and held his now, heavily, blistered foot.

Kurumu looked at the fight with confusion. "What's going on?"

Yukari caught on to what was going on. "No way! Ethan rose his own body temperature to the point that touching him can cause severe burns!"

" **AAAAGH!** " Gin roared in pain as his hand and foot were still being cooked. He looked back at Ethan, only now he was worried.

"Well, well, well. You're speed won't be of much use to you if you can't even move, will it?" Ethan asked. He walked over to Gin, who cloud feel the heat coming off of him. He quickly stood up and readied himself for one last attack.

" **I won't lose to you, you FREAK!** " Gin yelled as he launched off of his good foot and was zooming towards Ethan. Seeing as he had nothing left to lose, he thought that he could finish Ethan off with one last attack.

However, it proved in vain. Ethan built up a flame grenade in his hand and threw it up close to his face. As Gin was just centimeters away from the grenade, it went off, creating a blinding light that startled everyone. When it faded, Gin was lying on the ground, semi-conscious, while Ethan was standing up, alive and well, with his skin returning to its usual color. Everyone went up to him and congratulated him. Tsukune made the mistake of slapping him on the back, as there was still some residual heat coming off of his friend.

"That was amazing! Where did do learn to do those things?" Yukari asked as she was healing Tsukune's hand.

"I teach myself. Thought it would be good to try out different ways of using the power so that I could prepare for any situation." Ethan answered as he looked on at Gin.

"Well, how come you weren't affected by the ball of flame blowing up?" Kurumu asked.

"The grenade only released a blast of flame that would've been too much for anyone else to handle if they got to close. One thing I love about using fire, it doesn't affect me." He said to Kurumu. He then turned to Moka, or more accurately, her rosary. "Sorry I stole your fun." He said quietly

The rosary gleamed in response for a brief second before going back to normal, which no one except for Ethan noticed. He put it back of his mind as he looked back at Gin, with an idea forming in his mind.

"Guys… I've an idea I think we all might like." Ethan said.

…

"EXTRA, EXTRA! PEEPING TOM BROUGHT INTO THE LIGHT" Yukari yelled out to the oncoming crowd.

The group were now selling their first issue of this year's newspaper club to the entire school in the school plaza. They chose to make Gin the front page story, ensuring that everyone in the school knew what he had done and that he would get the proper punishment for it.

The whole group were proud at what they had managed to accomplish together as a team, which was heightened when they heard many people giving them praise for the quality of the work.

"Hooray! This is the best day EVER!" Kurumu yelled, clearly overjoyed at what they had managed to do.

"I'll be honest. I had a few doubts of us managing to do well. But I'm glad to see everything worked out for us." Ethan said.

"Oh, Ethan. You really need to learn how to be more optimistic." Moka said as she was putting up posters on the notice board."

Tsukune chuckled slightly. "Seriously, Moka? You expected him to be more optimisti- AAAGH!" Tsukune said, his screams from Tsukune accidentally getting a clear view of Moka's panties and blood spritzing out of his nose like a water fountain. He collapsed to the ground.

"Oh, Tsukune, I'm so sorry!" Moka said, feeling both embarrassed and guilty at what happened.

Ethan turned to Yukari. "Yukari, help me out. Is Tsukune incredibly 'lucky' or 'unlucky'?" he asked her.

"Are you KIDDING? I'd love to get a sneak pe-"

"OKAY, you are clearly the wrong person to ask, just forget it." Ethan said quickly.

A thought suddenly occurred to Kurumu as she handed more posters to Moka. "Hey, Ethan. How did you manage to get those pictures of Gin that you showed us?" she asked.

"Gin planned to have me peak through that window to the changing room to try and incriminate me, a kind of revenge for us catching him out in the clubroom. I only caught on after we arrived. I convinced him to look first, then…" he pulled out a metal paper clip. "I poked him in the ass with the sharp end with this, his… uniquely… girly scream alerted the girls, and I shot myself onto the roof to get out of the way. Took pictures of the whole thing."

They all looked at him with impressed look. Moka was the first to speak. "Morale of the story, never mess with you." She said with a smile.

"Ooooh yes." Ethan said.

"… Hey, I'll be pack in a second, just need to get something." Moka said.

They all nodded in understanding. Moka made her way back into the school, making her way towards the club-room. However, she stopped when she reached a window that showed a clear view of the plaza. Her expression immediately changed into a feint look of sorrow.

"Golden feathers… aura…" her hand unconsciously wrapped itself around the rosary.

"The phoenix…"

Unknown to her, the hooded figure that had been plaguing Ethan for so long was hiding behind a corner, a small smile forming on his face.

"'Bout time figured it out." He said. His form began to ripple, slowly fading away. "Now the fun begins."

 **[Alright, that's another chapter down, a fair number to go. Hope you all enjoyed it. For anyone who may be disappointed for Ura's lack of appearance in this chapter, my apologies. I decided that it would be best to give her another break. Still, she'll be back in action soon enough. Also, while Ethan has proven to be moooo-(2hrs later)-ooore than capable of taking himself, it won't last. Despite appearances, he's not invulnerable, which will be presented in later chapters. Anyway, that's all from me for now. If anyone had anything to ask, or anything to comment, feel free to leave a review or a PM if you like.**

 **See you all later]**

 **Mitch- Thank you for pointing that out, hope the chapter was alright aside from the grammar and spelling.**


	9. A time to chill

The night was incredibly peaceful. Everyone was fast asleep, having pleasant dreams. All of them, except for one. In the boys' dorms, Ethan was lying in his bed, tossing and turning as sweat built up on his forehead. He his face was masked with fear and worry.

"No… no, please…" he whispered. Soon, the images he was witnessing became stronger, taking a stronger toll of his mind.

…..

 _In the school plaza, there was nothing but flames surrounding the area. Ethan was on his knees in the center, holding a lifeless body in his hands. His vision was masked by the smoke, making it difficult to see who it was. He looked around and, much to his horror, one by one his friends appeared resting on the ground in puddles of their own blood. Each one was covered in burns and cuts, their eyes wide as plates as if they had seen their worst nightmares._

" _Tsukune… Moka… Kurumu… Yukari… why did… why did this happen?" was all Ethan could say as he saw the bodies of his friends being engulfed by the surrounding flames. He tried to move, but his body felt like he was being weighed down by an unseen force._

 _Looked around once more, only to come across an unfamiliar figure on the ground as his friends were. He could only tell that the person was female; he wasn't able to see any more as the flames engulfed her as well._

 _He tensed up his fist, feeling helpless. He tried to get up again, but was instead pushed down by a strong hand. The body he was holding rolled out of his grip, soon getting caught in the flames as they soon started to get close to him._

 _He turned his head and saw a humanoid figure. There were horns sticking out of his head and there were ember eyes glowing in the shadows that covered him. He raised his free hand and built up a glowing energy in his fist. A terrifying smile emerged on his face._

" _ **You have failed… you always have… and you always will.**_ _" The creature said. He then brought down his fist, causing Ethan's eyes to see nothing but a sea of flames._

… _._

Ethan shot up from his bed, seemingly startled and still sweating from his brow. He panted heavily, trying to catch his breath after what he had seen. After he had calmed down, he wiped his face clear of the sweat and got out of his bed, making his way to the window. It was the same dream he had in the club room five weeks ago.

"The same dream again… haven't had it for the past few weeks." He said to himself. He then chuckled slightly. "Won't be long before I go mad from it I guess." He looked back towards his bead stand, more specifically, his clock. He cocked an eyebrow at it and decided to pick it up. He squinted his eyes and brought it up close. "'3pm' on the dot? But-" He looked back at the window. He widened his eyes and saw that, much to his surprise, he saw that the curtains were closed. He opened them to reveal a bright, sunny day.

"Oh for feck sake! I need to get to the plaza!" he yelled. He quickly put on his uniform, stuffing his tie into his pocket and ran out of his room. He had to push his way past some of the other boys on his way out.

"I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed!" Ethan kept repeating to himself, for once fearing the wrath of one person in particular.

…..

"Thank you so much everyone!" Moka said to the crowd of people gathering around her and the rest of the group. She distributed as many of the papers as she could, Kurumu and Yukari giving her a hand. Tsukune was going back and forth between the plaza and the clubroom, re-stocking the newspaper stand with more papers when they were running low.

Each member had a specific role to play for the paper. Kurumu was writing about dating tips for girls to get the man of their dreams (many of which Tsukune was terrified of as she might try them on him, while Ethan got a good laugh out of him), as well as writing out different baking recipes, ranging from cakes to cookies.

Yukari had taken the liberty of including horoscopes and fortune telling sessions into the paper, as well as many study tips that were easy and effective to put into practice.

Moka often wrote about specific events going around the school, or about different people who had distinguished themselves from each other from their academic records, their talents, etc. She would never say a bad word about any of them, which made it easier for the people she would write about to open up more to her. Also, since everyone in the school loved her, they all took it as an opportunity to talk to her.

Tsukune was the paper's journalist, asking people about specific facts about their stories. He wasn't quite as good as Moka when it came to talking to people but he was both serious and determined when it came to his role, so he would assertively, but kindly, get the information required. It also suited him because he and Moka would sometimes talk to the same people, so would do their work together.

Ethan's role was a bit more unusual compared to the rest. After showing his skill with photography, he had become the photographer of the club, taking terrific pictures. He also took the liberty of drawing comic strips toad a bit of entertainment for those who weren't interested. Most were cartoons he copied from the human world media, such as 'Garfield'. He made a few originals based on a few manga Ann showed him out of interest. They were a big hit.

"Honestly, I never imagined Ethan to be a comic drawer." Kurumu commented.

"Hey, he told us that he wanted to become a manga artist, remember?" Yukari pointed out. "That should've been your first clue."

"Well, excuse me." Kurumu said with a pout.

Moka and Tsukune shook their heads at their friends' antics. They soon looked at each other, said looks turning into longing stares.

"Oh Tsukune…" Moka said.

"Oh Moka…" Tsukune replied.

"Oh fecking hell."

Everyone jumped with fright. They turned and saw Ethan resting his hands on his knees while huffing and puffing. He looked like he was just after running a marathon.

"Sorry… I'm late." Ethan managed to say.

"Ethan!" Moka said with a stern face, causing the source of her anger to jump as well. "You promised that you wouldn't be late again. We had a lot of papers to distribute, and we need as many people here as possible to help. What happened?"

Ethan was wide-eyed with surprise at the vampiress' yelling. It looked like she was finally starting to overcome her shyness… at last.

"I'm sorry, Moka. Rough night sleeping. I had…" he leaned in a bit closer to her. "That same nightmare."

Moka's look immediately softened. After Ethan revealed the new nightmare that he had a while back, she became even more worried about him. First the phoenix, now a flaming apocalypse. It sounded like a lot to take in.

"Okay, you're off the hook this time, but please try to get yourself properly organised." She said.

"Thanks. Now, how'd the papers sell today?" he asked.

"Today was another big success, we gave out all the copies. By the way, people love that 'Garfield' cartoon you drew up. How'd you come up with that?" Kurumu asked.

"I didn't, it's a cartoon that was pretty popular a good few years ago in the human world. Since no one seemed to have heard of it here, I thought I'd introduce it to them. Luckily, no one's going to hit me up for copyright violation here." He said.

"Oooooh, we got a bad boy." Kurumu said playfully.

The rest of the group laughed while Ethan shook his head with a smile. "So, what now?"

Moka took the opportunity to mention an idea she had for a while. "Say, we've all been working so hard lately, how about we throw ourselves a celebratory party for our success?" she suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea! We can get snacks from the school store, and we can have it in the clubroom." Yukari said.

"All in favour?" Tsukune asked. With that, the whole group put their hands up. He chuckled "Then it's settled. Oh, wait, where's Gin?"

After the events concerning Gin's peeping, he was suspended for a week. After it had finished, he returned to the club where all the girls looked close to tearing off his limbs and beating him with them. He made a sincere apology, promising not to do anything like that again. Most of the group were sceptical about this, thinking it could be a trick. Moka and Tsukune, however, decided to take pity on him. Since then, he was hard at work with his duties in the club, proving to be pretty good at the job.

However, he would still go out of line every now and then, snapping a few pictures of girls at different times or trying to hit on them shamelessly. One time, Ethan caught him in the act, resulting in him doing something that had left Gin shaking with fear. None of the group dared asked what it was he did.

"He's probably gone off to hit on some helpless girl again." Kurumu commented.

"That'd be my guess." Yukari followed.

"So, anything else we should do for the party?" Moka asked.

Ethan was about to say something when he felt a sudden chill in the air. The rest of the group were quick to pick up on the feeling, causing them to turn around instinctively towards the source. Their eyes came upon a girl, around their age, with long purple hair and eyes as well as pale skin. She wore a white hoodie with black sleeves, a yellow skirt, purple and white stockings and tennis shoes.

"It's strange." The girls said. "Seeing you all hang out like that, talking, laughing… I could never understand that."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Kurumu yelled. She was about to move forward when Ethan, who was standing in front of her, shot out his arm to the side, telling her to stop. Reluctantly, she did. Ethan lowered his arm and put on a friendly face, still unsure of what to make of the woman.

"Can we help you with anything?" he said.

The girl ignored him and focused her attention on Tsukune. "Do you happen to have any copies of the newspaper left?" she asked.

Tsukune immediately looked into his jacket pocket and pulled out a copy he had been saving for later. "Here, you can have this one. Sorry it's a little crumpled up." He said while handing her the paper. She took it and nodded in gratitude.

"Thank you… goodbye now." She said before turning around and leaving the group.

"What was that about?" Kurumu asked, clearly still annoyed with the girl.

"You really know how to hold a grudge, don't you?" Ethan asked Kurumu.

"Let's forget it. We've got a party to go to, right?"

"YEAH!" the girls responded.

"Sound's good." Ethan said.

…..

The next day, everyone was in their classrooms. Their respective classes had just started and Miss Nekonome was taking the role for Tsukune's class. She was going through the list quickly enough, stopping at one name when she didn't hear anyone respond to that name.

"Shirayuki?" She asked again, wondering where said student was. She sighed sadly. "Oh dear. IT doesn't look like Shirayuki isn't going to join us today." She said sadly.

However, the classroom door was opened, snapping her out of her sadness. Tsukune, Moka, Kurumu and Ethan all turned towards the door. The first three were wide-eyed with shock when they saw that it was the girl from the other day.

"Oh, Miss Shirayuki! Thank goodness you were able to join us today!" the feline teacher said cheerfully.

The girl ignored her and took a seat right next to the class window. She then went on to stare out through the window passively, paying no attention to the world around her.

"Everyone, this is Mizore Shirayuki. For, uh, personal reasons, she hasn't been able to attend school for a while. Everyone please be nice to her and make her feel welcome, okay?" the teacher continued.

Ethan made a small smirk towards the girl, now named Mizore, then looked back down at his desk and continued to work on a drawing he had been working on. The rest of the group, however, were less than satisfied, the girls looked at her awkwardly and Tsukune was screaming and shivering. Ethan shook his head at their antics.

"Eejits." He said under his breath as he continued on with his art.

…

"Don't you think it's a bit weird that she's in the class now?" Kurumu asked her friends.

"I don't see what the big deal is." Ethan said.

Kurumu looked at him like he had two heads (which wasn't uncommon in the Yokai world, to be fair). "Seriously? How can you be so calm about this? Aren't you always the one who's suspicious of everyone he meets?"

Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose briefly. After the class had ended, the group went for a walk through the hallways, where Kurumu immediately brought up her discomfort with the girl. Ethan released his grip on his nose before speaking again.

"To be fair, Kurumu, you only spoke to her once. How's that an indicator that she should be considered weird. Secondly, you're right, I can be suspicious of people. That's why I like to get my _facts_ straight before I make any comments on people." Ethan replied, his tone becoming darker as he spoke, causing Kurumu to wince.

"Plus, Moka said I should try to be… what's the word… _nicer_ to people" he continued, saying the word 'nicer' as if it was the first time saying it. "It wouldn't be a bad start."

"Nice job, Ethan." Tsukune said, clearly happy to hear that Ethan would try to make a better impression on people. About half the school were already scared of him, so he might actually make more friends than enemies this way.

Moka was happy as well, thinking it would benefit him a great deal. She gasped as she suddenly remembered something. "Oh no! The party!" she said.

"Don't worry, I got all the supplies set up in the club room already. You're welcome." Yukari said.

"Damn, you're fast." Ethan said to her, which caused her to give a haughty smile to her friends.

"Well, in that case, let's meet up there soon. There are a couple of things I need to take care of, so we'll see each other later, okay?" Moka said.

Kurumu rushed up to Tsukune and began her usual routine of rubbing her chest up against his, causing him to blush. "I'll be waiting for you, Tsukune." She said seductively, only causing him to blush more.

"KURUMU, GET AWAY FORM HIM!" Moka yelled as she dragged her away. Yukari wasn't long to follow suit.

Tsukune returned to his usual form at last. "Hey, Ethan you want to-" as he turned towards Ethan's direction, he saw that he had already gone. He slumped his shoulders in defeat. "And I'm alone." He said.

A few seconds later, he felt a familiar chill go up his spine. He looked behind him and saw someone quickly move behind a pillar.

"Hey, is someone there?" he asked.

To answer his question, the person hiding behind the pillar stepped out into the open, revealing that it was Mizore. She seemed a little embarrassed for some reason.

"Oh, hi there, uh, Mizore, was it?" Tsukune asked, now a little bit more relaxed.

Mizore nodded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a familiar newspaper. She handed it back to Tsukune. "Thank you. I thought this issue was pretty good." She said.

Tsukune raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I asked Miss Nekonome to send me copies of the paper so I could keep up to date on what was going on. It's really well written. I especially like your articles, Tsukune." Mizore explained.

Tsukune couldn't help but blush. "Oh, thank you."

Mizore then pulled out a book and handed it over to Tsukune. "I hope you don't mind, but I made a scrapbook of all my favorite articles from the paper. Would you like to have a look?" she asked.

"Sure, I'd love to." Tsukune answered. He took the scrapbook and opened up the first page. However, his smile was quickly replaced with a look of fear when he saw that, not only was it filled with everything he had ever written, but there were notes beside them all, mainly about how Mizore and Tsukune being together in a romantic way. He was sweating like a waterfall soon enough.

" _What the heck!? Has this girl been stalking me!?"_ Tsukune thought, suddenly fearing for his life.

"Do you like it?" Mizore asked.

"… it's… well organised." Tsukune managed to say.

Mizore blushed at Tsukune's comment. "Thank you." She said. A thought suddenly occurred to her. "Come with me."

….

Ethan flopped onto his bed, seemingly tired. He was tempted to go back to sleep, as he was still a bit drained after his nightmare. However, he didn't want t turn up late for the party. He sighed and sat back up, his eyes looking over at the table of his room. On it laid the guitar case that held the staff he got from the chairman. After Ethan had gained the ability to use fire, he didn't have much use of it. So he kept it in the case and left the case in the room, making sure that it wouldn't be taken.

Ethan went over to the case, brushing off a small lair of dust and unzipping the case. He saw that the staff was still there. He wrapped his hand around it, causing the staff to suddenly cover itself in a yellow aura. Ethan wasn't fazed by this, remembering how it glowed like this any time he used it.

While it had proved to be an effective melee weapon, both strong and durable, his flames had proven to be more effective and efficient. However, he couldn't help but wonder what the staff was truly capable of. The seal was still on the staff, keeping whatever power it held trapped within.

"Just how powerful are you?" he said. His eyes then widened briefly and he shook his head briskly. "For goodness sake, I'm talking to a piece of wood."

He put the staff back into the case. After a moment of contemplating what to do, he decided to fling the case onto his back again and went out the door, hoping to make it to the party in time.

….

"Did you see that, Tsukune? I got nine skips!" Mizore said gleefully.

After their conversation in the halls, Mizore brought them out to the lake where she wasted no time in skipping stones. Every time she did so, she asked Tsukune how it was, like a child seeking approval from their parent.

Tsukune didn't really mind, in fact it helped to make him feel a little more comfortable around the girl, seeing this side of her. However, he was becoming a little impatient, as he was running late for the newspaper club's party.

"Um, Mizore?" Tsukune said. The girl tilted her head at him. "I, uh… I had a great time hanging out with you, but I need to get going."

"Huh… why?" Mizore asked.

"Well, I have to meet up with the rest of the newspaper club. We're throwing a little party and I'm running late." Tsukune explained.

Before Tsukune made a single step, Mizore rushed up to him and wrapped her arms around one of Tsukune's. This caught him off guard slightly. He was about to ask what was wrong when Mizore started to speak again.

"It's because of her, isn't it? You just want to be closer to Moka Akashiya." She said, her tone becoming a bit darker.

Before Tsukune could say anything else, he was lifted off his feet and thrown at the lake. As he flew, the surface of the lake froze solid. Tsukune landed on the cold surface, feeling sore from the impact. He managed to get back up, when his lags were suddenly encased in ice. He tried to break free, but it was like he was cemented to the ground. He looked back at Mizore.

Much to his surprise, her hair had suddenly turned into ice, and her hands had turned into large claws, also made of ice.

"What… are you, Mizore?" Tsukune asked.

Mizore walked across the ice, walls of ice building up around her as she walked on. "I am a snow woman, a being who has the ability to bend ice to our will." The closer she got, the more the ice trapping Tsukune built up, starting to encase his body completely.

"Do you know why I have an interest in you, Tsukune? It's because we are both lonely souls. By the way you write, I can tell that you have been alone for all your life. I can relate. I, too, have been alone all my life." When she was right up to Tsukune, she placed a clawed hand on the ice Tsukune was trapped in. "Don't you see? We were made for each other. Stay with me, Tsukune. Let us warm each other's cold hearts together."

The ice was close to trapping him completely. At this point, he knew that only a miracle would save him.

"TSUKUNE!"

Both Tsukune and Mizore looked up and saw Moka being flown in from above by Kurumu, who didn't look happy.

"Here we go again."

They looked down and saw that Ethan was joining them, this time with his old staff in hand. He slid onto the ice, allowing the slippery surface to bring himself closer to the prisoner. Kurumu dropped Moka right in front of Mizore and Tsukune. Ethan plunged the staff into the ice to slow his momentum, stopping right next to Moka.

"What are you doing here? I thought you would be dead by now."

"You mean that moving ice clone you made? Got to her just in time before I smashed its head off with this." Ethan explained, swinging his staff around as he spoke. "Just in time too, it was just inches away from-"

"Please don't remind me of it." Moka asked, the memory still too much for her.

"You also knocked the cake I made for Tsukune out of my hands and into the ground when I came into the floor!" Kurumu said, her anger now revealed to be at him.

"I was tense, plus I haven't used this thing in a while, it's good to get the practice in. Besides, didn't you add a love potion into that cake?" Ethan defended.

"Enough of this!" Mizore said before aiming her claws at the girls and Ethan. A cold wind blew Moka and Kurumu away, while Ethan embedded his staff into the ground. While the wind blew, Ethan shot out his free hand and launched orbs of fire. Mizore saw them come close, only having a split-second to create a shield of ice. When the ice hit, it demolished the shield. Fortunately, the residual heat was enough to weaken the ice trapping Tsukune. He managed to break free. Mizore saw this and was about to go after him, but another fireball was coming her way. After she dodged, she glared daggers at Ethan. She readied her claws and rushed towards Ethan, ready to slice him into two.

Ethan grinned at her confidence. He was about to coat the staff with fire and strike her into oblivion. Considering that she tried to kidnap Tsukune and kill Moka (realizing that this was the second time now), he felt no guilt in the idea of going all out.

However, Tsukune got in between them just in the nick of time.

Ethan registered the action quickly enough, so he extinguished the flame and lowered his staff. Mizore also saw Tsukune and stopped. She was quite surprised by this.

"Tsukune… what are you doing?" Mizore asked in disbelief.

"You're wrong, Mizore. I'm not lonely. And I'm sorry, but I won't let you hurt my friends. Understand?" Tsukune said confidently.

"You tell her, mate!" Ethan said to him.

Mizore seemed to be taking the news less than well. She was shaking and her eyes were welling up with tears. "You… are you rejecting me?" around her, the air became much colder. " **WHYYYYYYY!?** " she cried as the wind picked back up. Ethan held up his hands in front of his face, Tsukune fell to his knees and held his right arm to cover his face.

They lowered their arms when the wind faded to see that she disappeared. Ethan cursed while Tsukune looked at where she was standing previously, his expression becoming softer.

"Mizore…" Tsukune whispered.

"Tsukune!" Moka screamed from behind them.

The two boys looked behind and saw that the girls were running up to them. Ethan smirked. "Well, deciding to join us now, are we?"

"Sorry, we had a few problems." Moka said.

Ethan turned back and looked to where Mizore was. "Damn, she left before I got a good hit in. Next time we meet, we're going to have a proper fight."

"Really? That's what concerns you?" Tsukune asked his friend.

Moka noticed that the air was getting warmer. He looked around her, only to see heatwaves coming off of Ethan. She then saw steam coming off of the ice, quickly coming to a realisation.

"Uh… Ethan?" Moka said.

"What?" Ethan asked harshly, still annoyed at having lost his opportunity for a good fight. However, before anyone else could say anything else, the heat coming off of him weakened the ice enough that the area they were standing on shattered, causing them all to fall in.

….

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Ethan asked the group.

After they all fell in, Tsukune, Moka and Kurumu caught colds from the water. Ethan's pyrokinesis, fortunately for him, made him more resistant to the cold, which earned him hateful glances from Kurumu. They retreated back to the club room, where they all sat and were trying to fix the colds.

"It'll never be enough." Kurumu said.

Ethan sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere. He heard a knock at the door and, eager to get away from her, zoomed towards the door. Kurumu turned back to Tsukune and Moka, who both were in the same state as Kurumu.

"Man, I can't believe we're in this mess because of that snow skank." She said.

"Don't be so mean, Kurumu." Moka said.

They were silent for a moment, expecting Tsukune to come into the conversation. However, he was silent, as if he was lost in thought about something. Moka was concerned; she was about to ask something when she heard Yukari's voice at the door.

"Never fear, I have someone here who can help" she said.

Yukari walked into the room, followed by Ann and Rebecca. They each were carrying bags of herbs, making Rebecca sneeze constantly.

"Please be careful not to get your sneezes on the herbs, they need to be in the best condition for them to work." Yukari said.

"Remind me why we agreed to help you?" Ann asked, seemingly irritated by something.

Yukari was about to say something when she saw Rebecca moving behind Ann, shaking her head quickly. Instead, Yukari shrugged and said "Need all the help we can get."

Ethan raised an eyebrow while looking at Rebecca, wondering what was up with her. He then shook his head, trying to focus on the topic at hand. "Let's get back on topic. What are we going to do about Mizore?"

"What do you mean? Why should we bother with her after what she did?" Kurumu asked.

Ethan linked his hands together and sat forward, making a small grin. "In case you didn't notice, there are _some_ individuals who have their fair share of sins, and yet have proven to be… redeemable. Does that sound familiar at all, Kurumu?"

Kurumu suddenly blushed, remembering her hostile, and seductive, takeover of Yokai academy during the start of the school year, as well as her attempt at Moka's life and Tsukune's love. She was thinking about what to say in return, but wasn't able to think of anything. She lowered her shoulders and head in defeat.

"I rest my case." Ethan said. He saw Rebecca carrying over a tray of tea. He offered to help her, but she said that she was okay. So, instead, he turned over to Tsukune. "Hey, Tsukune, y'alright there." He asked.

Tsukune snapped out of the daze he was in and looked over to Ethan. "Uh, yeah, why do you ask?"

"Because you looked like you were away with the fairies, that's why." He said.

"WHAT!? FAIRIES!? WHY THOSE NO GOOD, STUPID-"

"Not what I meant, Kurumu." Ethan said, ceasing Kurumu's ravings.

"Sorry… it's just, the way that Mizore was acting. There was something there. Not just loneliness, but there was some kind of… pain." Tsukune said.

"So I'm not the only one that noticed." Ethan said.

Before anyone else could say anything, there was suddenly the sound of a large commotion. Ethan rushed over to the door, opening it to see Miss Nekonome standing outside the door, breathing heavily as if she had just ran a marathon.

"Oh, thank god you're here." She said.

"What's going on?" Ethan asked, concern and worry building up on his face.

…..

"SHE DID WHAT!?"

Miss Nekonome brought them all into the staff room, where they were told that Mr. Kotsubo, the gym teacher, was frozen by Mizore. Had he not been discovered as soon as it had happened, he would've died from shock from the cold.

Personally, Ethan was disappointed that he was just saved. He noticed that he would always be staring shamelessly at the girl students. Once he was close to throwing a few flame grenades at his feet just to watch him explode, only to be stopped by Tsukune.

"I can't believe this is happening. If Mizore is caught, she'll be expelled. I don't know why she would do this." She said.

"… What did Mr Kotsubo say happen?" Rebecca asked.

"He said that Mizore came onto him, and froze him when he rejected her." Miss Nekonome said.

"Wait… really?" Ethan asked.

"What do you mean 'really'? That's exactly what she tried to do with Tsukune, remember?" Yukari pointed out.

"And yet she's automatically going after a person more than twice Tsukune's age just like that, especially since she was so fixated on Tsukune. Seems a little strange, don't you think?" Ethan replied.

"Oh… this is too much to handle. I wonder what will happen when the faculty find her." Miss Nekonome asked herself.

"I'll find her first." Tsukune stated, causing everyone to look startled.

"You sure? She might not be up for discussion with you after what happened." Yukari pointed out.

"But that's the thing. It's my fault that she's in this mess. If I hadn't rejected her like that, maybe this wouldn't have happened."

"Don't blame yourself." Moka said, trying to comfort him.

All were silent for a moment. Then Ethan broke the silence. "Alright. Let's divide and conquer. Moka and Kurumu, stay here with Miss Nekonome in case Mizore comes back. Yukari, Ann, you two go to the girls' dorms and see if there are any clues as to where she might be in her room. Rebecca, Tsukune, we'll leave you two to find her." Ethan pulled out a burner phone from his back pocket and threw it over to Tsukune. "Call me on that if you find her."

"Where'd you get a burner phone?" Tsukune asked worryingly.

"… Not important. I'm going to find Gin, he and I are going to talk to Kotsubo about this. Alright, let's move." With that, he zoomed out of the office and went to find Gin.

"Not bad. Is he always like this?" Ann asked Tsukune.

"No, he's usually one for brawn, not brains." Tsukune answered.

"I HEARD THAT!"

Tsukune immediately started shivering. "Okay, let's go, uh, Rebecca, come on." Tsukune said quickly, hoping to move in case Ethan came back.

Rebecca nodded and followed Tsukune out the door.

They past a room where Ethan was currently in, who was briefly checking to see where Gin was. Ethan left the room and saw Tsukune and Rebecca make their way down the hall. Ethan was about to head down the same direction when he heard someone call his name. He went back into the room and looked out an open window and saw that it was Gin calling. Ethan jumped out of the window and landed with a roll.

"Gin? I was looking for you, what's wrong?" Ethan asked, seeing that Gin had a look of shock on his face, as if he witnessed something dreadful.

"Ethan… you will not believe what I found out." Gin said with an eager smile.

…..

Tsukune and Rebecca looked in the swamp, then in the gym and then in the groundskeeper's shed (the latter involving Tsukune stepping on a rake which flipped up and slammed him in the face). They were no closer to discovering where she might be. Then an idea came to Tsukune.

"Rebecca, I think I know where she is." Tsukune said.

Before Rebecca could ask what his idea was, he darted off in a random direction. Deciding that it could lead to something, she followed him. A few minutes later, they were at the edge of the cliff at the red ocean. There, they found Mizore standing right at the edge of the cliff.

"Hey, Mizore!" Tsukune called out."

Mizore turned around, seemingly surprised to see Tsukune. She paid no attention to Rebecca, though. "Tsukune… what do you want?"

"I came to talk. I'm sorry I hurt you, I never meant to hurt you. I just wanted you to understand that everyone is important to me. Also… I heard about what happened with Mr. Kotsubo." Tsukune paused, remembering how Ethan said that Kotsubo's story sounded odd. "Tell us, what really happened? Maybe we can help."

Two seconds after Tsukune spoke, Mizore started to cry again. Tsukune was about to say something when Rebecca walked in front of him and went up to Mizore. Rebecca took Mizore's hands and held them tightly.

"You don't need to be afraid. Whatever happens, we'll be here to protect you. We won't let anything bad happen to you." She said calmly and caringly.

Tsukune couldn't help but blink in surprise at how well she did that, even more so that it worked, seeing Mizore move closer To Rebecca and rest her head on her shoulders, letting all her emotion out. Rebecca released Mizore's hands, allowing Mizore to wrap her arms around Rebecca as she continued to cry.

After a few minutes, she had finished crying. She pulled back and nodded to Rebecca in gratitude. She then stood up and walked to Tsukune. She looked worried.

"Are you… still angry at me?" she asked him.

"I was never mad at you, Mizore. I was just concerned for my friends… that included you." He said.

This caught Mizore's attention. "What do you mean?"

"You were right about one thing. I _was_ lonely. But that all changed when I came here. I have friends now, and they helped me fit in. That includes you. I mean… we're friends, right?"

Mizore was truly amazed by this. She looked like she was close to tears again, she was that grateful. However, it was short-lived when they heard screaming in the distance. They all turned and saw that it was everyone, except for Ethan, running as quickly as they could towards them.

"Oh, Mizore, thank goodness you're okay." The feline teacher said.

"Wha… what's going on?" Tsukune asked, now a little bit baffled.

"Mr. Kotsubo lied. He forced himself onto Mizore and she froze him in self-defense. Mizore was the victim. Gin got the pictures to prove it."

"Then Ethan was right." Tsukune said. A thought then occurred to him. "Where's Kotsubo now?"

As if to answer the question, the ground began to shake, as if there was an earthquake. Tsukune looked around wide-eyed and afraid, wondering what was going on. Soon after, a pillar shot up from the ocean. When the crimson water fell back into the sea, it revealed Mr Kotsubo, short, blond hair, thin eyes, wearing a tracksuit jacket. His lower half looked like it belonged to a giant squid.

" **You meddling brats.** " Kotsubo said.

"How DARE you do that to her. You're supposed to be a TEACHER! You're supposed to help students!" Moka yelled. Her hands were balled up into fists.

" **What I do is none of your business. You should know better than to mess with affairs that don't concern you.** "

"Yeah, well, those 'affairs' of yours are over. We're going to kick your but!" Yukari said confidently.

" **Will you now? Do you mean… like** _ **he**_ **did?** " Kotsubo lifted another tentacle out of the water. Everyone was surprised to see Ethan trapped in one of the tentacles. He was bruised, beaten and unconscious. " **Don't worry, he's still alive. However, if you wish for him to stay alive, I propose a trade. This nuisance for the girl.** "

They were all in complete shock. Never once had Ethan lost a fight to anyone. Yet, here and now, his life was on the line, held by the one responsible for his defeat. Tsukune tried to think of something, anything, to try and help him. His eyes then came upon Moka and her rosary. Without thinking, he dashed towards her. The gym teacher saw this.

" **Nice try!** " he said as he shot another tentacle towards Tsukune.

"Oh no you don't!" Ann said. With that, she screamed at the top of her lungs. As she did, it created a powerful shockwave that was both visible and destroyed part of the cliff, as well as obliterating the tentacle that was aimed for Tsukune. Kotsubo was in so much pain that he lost his grip on Ethan.

Kurumu saw Ethan falling and brought out her wings, dashing towards Ethan and caught him just as he was about to hit the water.

"Oh yeah, Banshee one, giant squid zero!" Ann yelled victoriously.

"Banshee!?" Tsukune asked in disbelief.

"Don't tell anyone." Ann replied.

Tsukune nodded in agreement. he looked back at the teacher, reailzing that their odds were a lot slimmer. Then, luckily, an idea came to him. He turned his attention to Moka, who was also looking at Tsukune at the same time. "Moka, we need her help!" Tsukune said.

Moka turned to Tsukune and nodded in agreement. With that, Tsukune yanked off the rosary. As he did, the sky became crimson once more, bats flew down from the sky and covered her form and Moka proceeded to transform into her true form. When the bats dispersed, she was fully transformed, she glared at Kotsubo, a faint smile appearing on her face as she planned to strike.

"You are a truly disgusting creature. A Kraken, correct? You fit the profile. For your actions and you injuring one of my comrades, you will know true pain."

With that, Kotsubo laughed his head off, apparently unfazed by the vampiress. " **Do you truly believe that I would submit to the likes of you? You are truly a** -"

"Know your place." She interrupted. With that, she launched towards Kotsubo, jumping up into the air and landing a perfect kick onto his face. He force was enough to shatter every part of his face and send him flying back a few hundred feet. He soon reverted back into his human form, now left unconscious as he was floating in the crimson ocean.

"Hmph, not worth my time." The inner Moka said.

She then widened her eyes when she heard a familiar voice laughing. She turned back and saw that it was Ethan. Despite his broken form, he was laughing as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Oh no, he's becoming delirious! What do we do!?" Kurumu asked.

Tsukune's face formed a smile, laughing slightly when he realized what was going on. "He's not delirious. He planned it like this."

"…what?" everyone except for the inner Moka asked.

With that, Ethan quickly got back onto his feet, as if he hadn't been injured at all. They all looked at him with complete disbelief.

"Are you KIDDING ME!?" Gin asked.

"I'm lost." Kurumu admitted.

Ethan smirked at her. "It's actually quite simple. You see, I lost to the giant squid on purpose. While we were fighting, I set a recorder app on my phone to record what he was saying. Luckily, he admitted the whole thing, and I got it all on tape." He said happily.

"That was dangerous!" Moka said.

"True, but I've taken worse beatings. Luckily he was in his human form at the time, only transformed when he went to look for Mizore." Ethan replied.

"Well, now we can focus on clearing up everything at the school. Come on, let's go." Miss Nekonome said.

Ethan sighed. "I didn't get to fight the Kraken."

The inner Moka went up to him and smiled. "Sorry to steal all the fun."

Ethan raised an eyebrow, remembering that he had said something similar after his fight with Gin.

" _How the hell would she even know that?_ "

…

The next few days were quite busy. It turned out that Mizore hadn't been in school because Kotsubo had accused her of coming on to him a while ago. As such, she was considered a troublemaker by the rest of the staff (except both Miss Nekonome and the chairman, both of whom suspected something different form the beginning but couldn't prove it). After the truth came to light, they all gave her a sincere apology for their attitudes towards her, as well as the wrongful punishment implemented onto her.

Also, when Kotsubo was brought into questioning about his actions, he was immediately fired. This was a relief to many of the students, who were never fond of him in the first place.

After the busy days ended, things started to go back to normal. However, none of them saw Mizore around the school for a while, which worried them greatly.

…

Ethan sat in the club room, reading the most recent copy of the school paper. He smirked when he read the headline.

"Kraken brought to a smashing end by local heroes." He read out. He then looked over to the rest of the group. "Seriously? That's the name you came up with?"

"Hey, everyone loved it. Plus, we remembered to leave your being defeated in a fight out of the paper, so be thankful."

Ethan immediately looked offended. "You left it out? Now no one will be coming up and looking for a fight. Aw man." He said.

The girls looked at him with disbelief, while Tsukune just chuckled. "Good to see you didn't have your usual attitude beaten out of you."

"You got that right." Ethan said. He then turned to Gin, who was nursing a cup of coffee while reading his own copy of the paper. "I have to say, those were some pretty nice shots you took. I'm a little jealous."

"Oh, don't be. You're pretty good yourself. Besides, it was only by pure luck that I managed to find him." Gin said, trying to be humble.

Before Ethan could respond, a sudden cold chill entered the room. Tsukune and the rest of the group were shaking from the chill. Tsukune went up to the door, wondering what was going on. He opened it to find Mizore standing outside the door, with Miss Nekonome standing beside her. The later was overjoyed for some reason.

Mizore, on the other hand, was the same as usual. However, there was something different about her this time. Tsukune couldn't figure out what it was.

"Did you get your hair done, Mizore?" Ethan asked. He wasn't even looking at her and he was able to notice, much to Tsukune's embarrassment. The girls all looked towards Mizore's direction. They were all amazed by Mizore's new look.

"Wow. You're hair looks amazing!" Moka said.

Mizore blushed slightly. "Really? You all like it?"

"It looks awesome! Here, let me get a picture." Gin said while pulling out his camera. Unfortunately for him, a number of pictures fell out of his pocket at the same time. Everyone saw the pictures, which in fact showed a number of girls in various states on undress.

Ethan eyed Gin which suspicion for a moment. Then, Ethan created a flame gauntlet, balling his hand into a fist. "Gin… do we need to have another… discussion?" he asked.

Gin immediately zoomed out of the room screaming "DON'T HURT MEEEEE!"

"Get back her you perverted coward!" Ethan yelled as he chased after the club leader.

When the two left the room, Tsukune turned back to Mizore. "So, what's up with the new look?"

"Well, after what had happened, I decided that it would be best to… I don't know, re-make myself. I thought I'd start off with a new look."

"And it's amazing! It suits you down to the ground." Miss Nekonome said.

Mizore soon started to fidget with her hands. "I… I also wondered if I could join the newspaper club."

At this, all the girls looked at her with pure shock and disbelief. Tsukune, however, didn't notice. He simply smiled. "That sounds great. You okay with that Miss Nekonome?"

"Of course. That's why I'm here, to let you know that she will be joining you all today." She answered.

"I hope I can get along with everyone." The snow woman said.

"No problem there. We're all happy to have you here." Tsukune said. He then turned towards the girls. "Right everyone?"

The girls all put on smiley faces, however, it proved difficult as they all were holding in their discomfort towards the situation.

"Yeah… great." Kurumu said.

"Lovely." Moka managed to say.

"Looking forward to it." Yukari said while holding back a twitch of the eye.

Tsukune smiled even more when he heard that the girls were in board (sort of). However, he soon realised something.

"Hey, Ethan isn't back yet. Where could he be?"

…..

"Wow… he wasn't joking when he said he was fast." Ethan said to himself.

After Ethan gave chase to Gin, he had to literally go all over the place just to try and keep up. In the end, he was forced to give up and was now resting underneath a dead tree. As he got his breath back, he thought back to Mizore.

His hands balled up into fists and cursed himself. "I thought that girl looked familiar." He said regretfully.

That new dream he had the other day was something he was still shaking over. Seeing his friends so… lifeless. It was too much to handle. He also remembered the two unfamiliar people from the dream. After his meeting with Mizore, he was in a small state of shock.

The figure that was closest to the fire was, in fact, Mizore Shirayuki.

The fact that she was in the dream before Ethan even met her… it didn't make any sense. At least, not at first.

"That dream… was it the future?" he asked himself, afraid of what the answer might be.

 **[Aaaaand that's that for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. If anyone has anything to say, feel free to leave a review, it's always good to express your opinion.**

 **However, I hope your opinion on what I'm about to say won't be too harsh when I say that I'm going to be putting this story on hiatus for a bit. My reason being that I have been neglecting my other story, Fairy Tail: Dark Void for too long, and if I don't get back to it soon, I don't know when I will. I hope everyone is okay with that**

 **Well, that's all from me for now. See you all later]**

 **[Also, in case anyone asks, I added Garfield to the mix just to try it out. Hope no one minds]**


	10. SURPISE!

**[Hi everyone, Sorry for the long wait. Hope you're all feeling grand. Just want to say a couple of things before I start. First of all, if anyone is interested, I started another story, which may not be my best move since, as many of you may be able to tell by now, it takes a while for me to put up new chapters (Sorry about that by the way), but it's been on my mind for a while and I couldn't help but put it up. It's a crossover between Castlevania and RWBY called 'Remnant of shadows', if anyone is interested, I encourage you to have a look.**

 **Also, I would like to say thanks to 'Burke23', who was the one who suggested the idea for this chapter in the first place a while back. Thanks very much Burke23.**

 **Well, I won't delay you all any longer, enjoy the chapter.]**

"I… I… can't believe this is happening to me." Tsukune said to himself.

Tsukune was now in a very unusual position. Reviewing the situation, he had won the affections of a vampiress who had a split personality, a succubus who would every trick in the book to get him to sleep with her, an eleven year old witch who had a fetish for both him and Moka, and now there was a snow-girl who would take any opportunity during her free time to stalk the human boy.

Seeing Tsukune's situation, Ethan, being the kind of 'supportive' friend her was, decided to support him, help him to manage his situation with the girls… and make fun of him at any given opportunity, much to Tsukune's disbelief. Granted, he knew that Ethan would mess with him if he ever got a girlfriend, but Tsukune now knew he had way too much ammunition for the job.

At the moment, however, Ethan was in the library catching up on some history, so he didn't have to put up with him for the time being. But, as if to make up for it, Moka, Kurumu and Yukari were clinging on to him as if their lives depended on it, while Mizore was hiding behind anything she could find, keeping herself hidden from Tsukune's sight (which he found strange if he had to be honest).

The first three girls were all giving each other fiercely heated glares, clearly not happy that Tsukune was being sought after by other women.

"Oh Tsukune, aren't you looking forward to today?" Kurumu asked.

"I bet it's going to be a good today, wouldn't you agree, Tsukune?" Yukari asked.

"Uuuhh…" Tsukune said, being unable to form words knowing the awkwardness of the situation.

Out of the blue, two kunai knives were flying through the air, striking Kurumu and Yukari in the back of their heads. The surprise and pain caused them to release their grip on Tsukune and collapse. Tsukune and Moka were surprised to see this. They turned to where the knives came from, seeing Mizore holding four more in her right hand, prepared to strike if she felt necessary.

"You all stay away from my Tsukune." Mizore said.

Kurumu got back onto her feet and glared at Mizore. "If you want to be with Tsukune, How about you try and talk to him instead of stalking him?"

"How about you quit suffocating him with your chest, he might be able to tolerate you more." Mizore retorted.

Both female monsters looked like they were about to have at it. Moka and Tsukune looked nervous, but Yukari looked excited, even having a camera out. "Ooooh! Looks like we've got a cat fight our way!" she said, hoping for a bit of action.

The girls were in battle stances already, flexing their fingers and preparing for a fight. However, before either could make a move, something flew between them, causing them to halt with their potential duel. All eyes turned to the object, now embedded in a tree. The object, now that it wasn't zooming through the air, was Ethan's staff.

"Whoa!" Tsukune said.

"Tsukune, I thought you said that you had it handled."

All present turned towards the source of the voice, revealing itself to be Ethan. He looked quite amused by what was going on. He walked over towards his staff, explaining himself as he did so. "I could hear a lot of noise when I was studying. I came out here to find out what it was, only to find it was you guys again." He said. When he reached the tree, he effortlessly pulled the staff out of the tree. Spinning it briefly, he took the guitar case off his back and proceeded to put it back inside. He hoisted it back onto his back and smiled at the group. "Granted, I would've enjoyed a good fight, but I'd rather that you guys didn't. Knowing the school rules, it's too risky in case you expose yourselves to too many people."

"Since when are you so cautious?" Tsukune asked Ethan, referring to how reckless he can be, especially when it comes to fights.

"I'm cautious when I need to be." Ethan answered. He looked back towards Mizore and Kurumu and gave them stern glares. "Now, if you two are finished acting like a couple of babies, I'm going to go back to studying. See you guys later."

He started to make his way over to the library, noticing how Kurumu was pouting and sticking his tongue out when she thought he wasn't looking. Moka looked at Ethan as he walked away. Suddenly, she gasped as she remembered something. She turned to the rest of the group, a worried loo on her face.

"Guys, I just remembered, Ethan's birthday is coming up this weekend!" she said.

Tsukune's eyes widened with shock, realisation hitting him hard as well. "Oh yeah… I can't believe that we forgot about that."

Yukari hopped up onto Tsukune's back and gave him an inquisitive look. "It's Ethan's birthday this weekend? How come you never told us?" she asked.

Tsukune looked a little nervous as he spoke. "Well, with all the crazy things that have been going on, it kind of slipped my mind." He then recomposed himself. "Plus… he hasn't really celebrated his birthday in a while. He was never close to anyone and being positive wasn't… the easiest thing for him."

"Poor thing." Moka said, a look of sadness and empathy present on her face. The rest of the girls also seemed a little saddened by the tale.

He looked back and forth between all the girls for a moment before coming up with an idea.

"How about we throw Ethan a party this weekend." Tsukune suggested.

The girls all looked to him with a look of surprise. "I thought you said Ethan didn't like celebrating his birthday?" Kurumu said, voicing their thoughts.

"Well, he hadn't for a while. But after coming here, his spirits seem to be lifted. He might even enjoy it." He said. He had a look on his face that said that this was something he would do, a hint of Ethan's stubbornness now present in him. "And I'm going to make sure it's the BEST day he ever had!"

Mizore stepped forward, plucking the lollipop out of her mouth before speaking. "I like that idea. I wanted to do something for Ethan to thank him for his part in helping me." She said. She suddenly began to look a bit bashful and began to blush. "Of course… a lot of the ideas I came up with I'd prefer to do with Tsukune." She admitted.

This caused Tsukune and Moka to look at her with confusion, Yukari to giggle and Kurumu to literally jump on her and try to strangle her. Instantly, Tsukune and Moka tried to pry them off each other, with Yukari running around them, rooting for Mizore to win.

" _I don't know if I'll be able to live long enough to even make a proper plan!_ " Tsukune thought, a hint of worry now entering his mind.

…..

Ethan was now back in the Library, catching up on the various topics that he would need to research for his subjects. While he was able to keep up with the work load, despite the various situations they had gotten into thus far, he still found it hard to concentrate on studying the theory of it all. Eventually frustrated, he decided to take a break and head over to the cafeteria to get something to eat.

However, just as he was about to get out of his chair, he looked towards the direction he was headed for and saw Rebecca standing in one spot, a stack of books so tall that the overall weight was causing her arms to shake.

"Someone… please help me…" she said.

Immediately, Ethan went up to her and grabbed as many books as he could hold, even balancing some of them on his head. As soon as Rebecca felt the weight being relieved from her arms, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her vision, which was previously blocked by the stack of books, came in contact with Ethan, causing her to gasp and blush.

"E-Ethan!? What are you doing here?" she asked.

Ethan placed the books on the table he was sitting at before answering. "Catching up on some study. Having a hard time concentrating though, so I'm going to get something to eat. Yourself?"

"I was about to start studying actually." She answered.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. He looked back towards the books he placed on the table, estimating that there was enough there to cover eight years' worth of studying. He looked back at her, still wearing a confused expression. "You're going to read ALL of these!? When do you plan on finishing? The year 3000?" he asked.

Rebecca giggled. "I can get through books, scripts or pretty much anything you put in front of me pretty quickly. I can retain it all too, so I can study pretty quickly as well."

Ethan's jaw practically dropped to the ground after hearing that, not having felt so amazed since seeing the inner Moka for the first time. "…Wow… I'm so jealous right now. That's amazing!" he said.

Rebecca blushed even more after hearing that, glad to have gotten approval from him. Ethan saw the blushing, but he didn't really understand what it was about. Deciding to ignore it for the time, he then asked. "If it's alright with you, mind if we do some studying together some time? I could really use the help." He said.

Rebecca was quick to nod back to him, a sudden gleam of hope appearing in her eyes. "Great! How about after you get something to eat? No time like the present, you know?" she said, slightly surprised by her own self-confidence there for a second.

"Sounds like a plan, back in a second." He said before dashing off for the cafeteria.

As he went off, Rebecca got to work preparing for the last minute study session. Seeing the books that Ethan had left on the table, she decided to start with Maths to begin with, pulling out numerous maths books from her own pile. However, her spirits immediately dampened.

In all honesty, she had fallen for Ethan after he saved, not just her, but all those you had suffered from the bullying of the class representative. After that, he hadn't been in school, so many assumed that he had quit. But, seeing as she didn't have the ability to tell Ethan how she felt, it also pained her to talk to him. He would probably feel gratitude towards her for helping him, but that would be it.

" _I wish that he would see me in the same way._ " She thought to herself.

"You okay?" Ethan said, now standing behind her. The sudden surprise caused her to yelp and jump one foot from her chair. Landing back on the chair, she turned back to Ethan, who held up his hands as if in surrender. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said, smiling apologetically.

Rebecca was motionless for a few seconds. She then smiled back at him, her face once again filled with life.

" _I guess it doesn't matter as much… not as long as he's here._ " She thought to herself. With that, she motioned for him to sit with her. He complied and they got to work on studying back over math.

…

"OKAY TEAM! LET'S MOVE IT!"

Yukari was yelling at the other members of the newspaper club to try and organize the club-room for the party, rivaling the vocal cords of a drill sergeant (in all honesty, they probably would've chosen a drill sergeant over her at this stage). They decided to go ahead with the party today, considering the free time they had with classes cancelled due to what happened with a certain gym teacher. It was the perfect opportunity to throw a surprise party, leaving Ethan to do as he wished for his actually birthday.

"Yukari… do you think _you_ can help with some of this stuff?" Kurumu asked, now feeling like she might strangle the young witch at any point.

"Someone has to supervise this whole thing. We wouldn't want it to look boring, would we?" she asked.

"How about you get your _ass_ of that chair and _show_ us how to do it." Kurumu retorted, resulting in Yukari summoning another water basin and slamming it over the succubus' head. Yukari, who was in fact resting in a chair with her legs propped up on a table, giggled away to herself. She then turned her attention to Tsukune.

"So, Tsukune, what other things would Ethan like other than fighting and drawing?" she asked.

Tsukune, who was cutting up paper for confetti, stopped what he was doing and pondered on Yukari's question. "Hmm… he likes, ummm…"

"Don't tell me you can't think of anything." Yukari said.

"For a guy who's hung out with Ethan for a while, you don't seem to know a lot, do you?" Mizore asked.

"Well, Ethan's the kind of guy who keeps a lot to himself. I was lucky enough to find out that he likes to draw. I mean-" he stopped suddenly, an idea suddenly popping to mind.

"What is it?" Moka asked, dashing away from the table she was making party hats on and went straight up to Tsukune.

"He actually likes music too. I remember him listening to some music in a store we were checking out, and he was bobbing his head to a song that was being played at the time. It was slight, but I noticed it." Tsukune said.

"Great." Moka said. "What was the song?"

At that, Tsukune's spirits dampened. He stayed silent for a moment, trying to remember the title of the song and band, but he was only drawing up a blank. In that moment, he pulled up a chair, sat down and covered his face with his hands. "Why… why?" he kept repeating to himself.

The girls looked at him with surprise.

"I think we broke him." Mizore said.

Yukari shot up from her chair, her wand held high. "I know!" she yelled, causing Tsukune to jump up from his chair, landing on the ground with his face in the next second. Yukari pointed towards Mizore. "Mizore, think you can 'monitor' Ethan so you can find ideas for a gift?" she asked.

Mizore calmly nodded her head. "I'm on it." She said, quickly dashing out of the room and leaving a large dust cloud from it. Moka then remembered Tsukune, turning towards him and giving him a sympathetic look.

"Oh Tsukune." She said. She then looked up towards the ceiling and began to ponder. "I wonder how Rebecca's doing with Ethan?" she thought out loud.

….

"And I do this… okay, I think I got it."

Rebecca and Ethan have been studying in the library for a while now. While she did enjoy this study session with Ethan, it was really a way to distract Ethan for a bit. Yukari came to her and asked her to distract Ethan for a bit while they prepared a surprise party for him.

She was lucky enough to see Ethan studying in the Library; deciding to take the opportunity, she gathered as many books as possible and decided to help Ethan with his studying (which he really did seem to struggle with). They had been studying for a while now; Ethan was now more proficient with maths, history and science thanks to her. At the moment he was doing some biology exercises in a text book.

Ethan then slammed the pen he was using onto the table and shot his fists into the air. "HELL YEAH!" he roared.

Suddenly, the school librarian appeared from behind one of the shelves, placing a finger over her lips and gave him a stern glare. Ethan smiled back and held up a hand, mouthing 'sorry' to the librarian. She nodded and went back to her work. Ethan then looked back at Rebecca, who looked surprised and also like she was trying to hold back a laugh. When she recovered, she gave him a thumbs up.

"Glad to hear that you're getting on well." Rebecca said to him.

"Thanks for helping me. It's thanks to you I'm doing so well now. And it FIFTE- sorry, fifteen minutes." He said, quickly amending his volume as he didn't want to upset the librarian again.

"I guess I am pretty helpful." Rebecca said, suddenly fidgeting with her hands.

Ethan was silent for a few seconds before his eyes widened, quickly standing up. "Crap! I forgot I left some stuff in the newspaper clubroom." He said.

At this, Rebecca gasped, knowing that the rest of his club mates weren't finished preparing for the party yet. She tried to stop him, but he had managed to move too quickly, already close to the door.

"Not yet I'm afraid."

Before Ethan could even touch the door, he was immediately encased in a block of ice. As he stood frozen, his face currently showed a look of confusion. From behind a nearby bookshelf, Mizore popped her head, making sure that Ethan couldn't hear or see her. She quickly turned around and saw Rebecca, her face showing a look of shock and her hands currently covering her mouth.

"Hi Rebecca. I see you were struggling to distract our pyrokinetic." Mizore said.

"You didn't… have… to FREEZE HIM!" Rebecca roared.

"Relax, his body temperature is high enough so that he won't freeze, thanks to his powers at least. I guess if he was a human he would be dead by now." Mizore said.

Rebecca's face was completely drained with blood. "Please don't say that like its normal." She pleaded.

Mizore shrugged. "Okay, I guess. Hey, while you were with him, did he mention anything that would be good for a gift? We're kind of doing some last-minute shopping."

After Rebecca quickly recovered from the whole ordeal Mizore caused her, she pondered on different ideas. She noticed that he liked to practice fighting in the gym… he would draw a lot of comic strips when he thought that he was alone… other than that, there wasn't much to go on. At this, Rebecca's shoulders slumped.

"He doesn't really say much when we think about it, huh?" Rebecca asked.

"True, I-" Mizore started, quickly stopping when she remembered Moka said. "I think we could get him something related to his home country!" she stated.

"America?" Rebecca asked.

"Nope. Ethan's actually from Ireland." Mizore answered.

Before either could say anymore, they heard the ice encasing Ethan shatter. Mizore looked over and saw Ethan, steam coming off of his clothes and his hands currently coated in flame. Instead of a face of rage, he actually looked calm and relaxed, making Mizore relax a bit. Then Ethan raised a flaming fist up to his face.

"Any last words, Mizore?"

Mizore then became a little frightened. She looked back to Rebecca and waved. "I should get going, see you later." She said before darting out of the room.

Ethan gritted his teeth and was about to give chase when he abruptly stopped. He turned back to Rebecca and calmed his flames down for a moment. He sent a genuine smile towards her. "Thanks for helping me study." He said.

Rebecca once again blushed. She would have to get over this easily caused embarrassment at some point. But for now, it was a nice feeling. "No… no problem."

Ethan's expression suddenly became serious again. "Right, if you'll excuse me, I've a snow woman to melt." He said with a strong level of irritation in his voice as he gave chase. As he left, Rebecca turned around and saw the librarian, who was wearing a stern expression on her face, causing Rebecca to yelp with surprise.

"S-sorry Ma'am." She said, giving the elder a bow. As she did, the Librarian turned and walked away. When she was gone, Rebecca sighed with relief. She then began to ponder on what Mizore had told him. " _He's from Ireland? I never would've guessed that. Then again, he does use a lot of phrases from there, like 'eejit' and… other words_ " she thought. She then came out of her thoughts when another thought occurred to her.

"How did he end up in Japan?" she asked herself.

…

"Aaaaand… that's the banner done." Tsukune said.

Both he and Yukari, now covered in paint, were painting a "Happy Birthday" banner for Ethan when he entered the room. They had painted a number of different flame styles around the words and the corners, relating it to his fire abilities.

"A fine work of art, wouldn't you agree everyone?" Yukari asked.

"It looks lovely." Moka stated.

"Not bad." Kurumu said. The Succubus was currently decorating a number of cookies and a cake she whipped up, once again showing off her baking skills having made them so quickly. Yukari dashed up to the cookies and eyed them suspiciously.

"You didn't lace those with any potions, did you?" Yukari asked.

Kurumu raised an eyebrow. "What? No way! Even if I did, it'd be a love potion for Tsukune." She stated.

"What!?" Tsukune said in disbelief.

Their conversation was interrupted when they heard an explosion outside. After they all jumped from the surprise, they all went to the window to check to see what was going on. After reaching the window, they were all surprised to see Ethan chasing after Mizore with his flame gauntlets active, throwing fireball after fireball at her. The snow woman, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered by it, and was firing back ice shaped like either knives or shurikens.

"What are they doing!?" Kurumu asked in shock.

"I guess Mizore's taking her job of distracting Ethan a little too seriously." Moka said with a deadpanned tone.

"Should, uh… we stop them?" Tsukune asked.

"Are you kidding? A battle between fire and ice, we can finally see which one triumphs." Yukari said, suddenly holding a bowl of popcorn and completely devouring it.

Tsukune sighed at her and continued to look at their friends on the outside. He was worried, no doubt about that, but he wasn't sure who he'd be more worried for. Ethan has proven himself to be strong, a skilled combatant and he had somehow managed how to learn how to control fire in as soon as he unlocked it. Although Mizore wasn't bad when it came to fighting either. She was agile, fast and she had even more mastery over her element, having been abe to shape it into tons of different shapes and could control it's temperature.

He will admit, while he didn't like the idea of his friends fighting, it was interesting to see how a battle between fire and ice would turn out.

Tsukune shook his head, bringing himself back to reality. "Uh, guys? Shouldn't we get back to the decorations for the party?"

"Hush!" Kurumu said, not wanting to have her attention taken away from possible fight that may occur. Tsukune couldn't help but cringe at the fact that all the girls were now focused on the possible conflict. He sighed again and decided to finish the decorating himself.

"The fight probably won't be as exciting as we might think." Tsukune said to himself.

…

Outside, Ethan was still full of rage as he tried to strike Mizore with a fireball. What's more is that each time Mizore dodged, it only helped to raise his anger at not being able to hit his target for once.

Mizore was aware that this would frustrate him. In the time she started hanging out with the newspaper club, she had gotten to know them all very well. Even to the point where she knew their habits, behaviour and more. She especially found this useful when it comes to getting to know Tsukune as she could stalk him at the right time without getting caught.

Ethan stopped throwing fireballs and decided to go for the hand-to-hand approach, zooming towards her with his right fist. Mizore didn't anticipate this though, only narrowly managing to avoid his attack. As she did, he jumped up into the air and fired a rain if kunai made of ice. Ethan built up some energy beneath his feet and blasted himself out of the sharp rain of blades.

Ethan gathered the flames on his arms into the palms of his hand. When he had finished, he launched the flames at Mizore. Mizore grinned as she built up a shield of ice, making it strong enough to hold up against the blast. However, her confidence fell when the fire splintered into multiple balls of fire. They hammered against the shield, pushing her back and forming cracks in the ice. She tried her best to reinforce the shield with her power, but it wasn't enough. Eventually, the shield shattered and caused her to fly back.

Luckily, the barrage of fireballs ended as soon as the shield broke, encouraging him to launch himself up after her. As he got closer, Mizore morphed her fingers into ice claws and started slashing at the pyrokinetic. However, her moves were slightly clumsy, helping Ethan as he could easily avoid them.

" _So her close quarters needs work, huh? Good to know._ " He thought.

Ethan launched himself back towards the ground, causing him to create a crater in the ground. He looked up to see the snow woman shooting towards him. Her expression was still emotionless, perhaps due to her cool and calm personality, but Ethan could tell that she was getting annoyed at not being able to catch him off guard.

Ethan smirked at her. "You ready to give up?" he asked.

The snow woman shot a rain of ice kunai, which Ethan narrowly dodged. When she landed, Mizore smirked back at him. "Not yet. I have to kee-win." She said, wanting to ensure she didn't spoil the surprise. Despite this, however, she actually did want to win this fight for some reason. " _Why do I feel so compelled to win?_ " she thought.

They both deactivated their powers briefly. Instead of attacking directly, they proceeded to walk slowly to the side, unknowingly moving around in a circle. A large number of the student body had gathered around, excited to see who would win this battle of fire and ice.

"I bet Mizore's going to win this one." One of the students said.

"Are you crazy? Drake's always has the upper hand in a fight!" another said.

Ethan overheard many of the comments made. He was annoyed that there was a crowd gathering as if it was a spectator sport, partly because he didn't like the attention, but mainly because he knew that his attacks can be too wide spread, and someone could get hurt.

"Gotcha!" Mizore said.

Ethan was snapped out of his train of thought by Mizore's comment. Before he could say anything, his legs were suddenly encased in ice and attached to the ground. He tried to pull his legs free, but to no avail.

"What the feck!?" he exclaimed.

"I put as much effort as I could into that ice. Because it's more enhanced, your strength and flames won't be enough to break it." She said. Her hands morphed back into ice claws. "Time for the big finish." Mizore brought her claws together and built up as much ice in them as she could. When she built up enough, she raised it over her head, changing the shape of the material into… the largest sword Ethan has ever seen.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Ethan exclaimed.

"Say goodbye." Mizore said. with that, latched onto the sword and dashed towards him, readying the sword for a powerful swing.

Ethan proceeded to try and yank his legs out of the ice trap, now a little worried that he wasn't going to make it out of this one. " _Oh be the feck! I think this woman is actively trying to kill me! ... Granted I think it's impressive that someone caught me out so well, but I'd rather stay alive!_ " he thought.

Back in the classroom, two out of three of girls all watched in horror as Mizore looked like she was about to slice Ethan into pieces.

"WHAT IS SHE DOING!?" Yukari cried.

"IS SHE OUT OF HER MIND!?" Kurumu said.

Moka stared out silently at the fight, a small smile forming on her face. the other two looked at her, a look of bewilderment forming on their faces as they saw that she wasn't worried.

"Moka! Whay aren't you panicking!?" Yukari asked.

"I knew we shouldn't have left that snow skank in the group!" Kurumu yelled.

Moka looked back at the two and winked. "Just watch." She said calmly.

The Succubus and Witch looked back at the fight, curious to see what had Moka so calm. When Mizore was close enough, she swung the sword at Ethan, aiming for his neck. However, just as the blade was just inches away from his neck, the blade suddenly stopped. Surprised, Mizore tried to push the blade forward. However, the blade wouldn't move an inch no matter how hard she tried.

"What? How-" Mizore started.

" **Nice try.** "

Mizore immediately went still upon hearing that voice. She looked towards Ethan's face, but regretted it the moment she did. He looked at her with a clam expression, but his eyes were once again glowing ember. A thought suddenly occurred to her, prompting her to look at the base of the weapons blade. Sure enough, Ethan's hand was ignited and he had a tight grip on the weapon.

The pryokinetic gave her a blade-like grin. " **Still feeling lucky?** "

Kurumu and Yukari looked at the scene with their jaws hanging low. They both looked towards Moka, who still looked quite calm.

"Do you know what's going on?" Kurumu asked.

Moka nodded. "Each time Ethan's been put into a corner, something inside him awakens, something that gives him the power to fight back, no matter the odds." As she spoke, Ethan managed to break free of the ice trap and tightened his grip on the weapon enough to shatter the blade. "The first time I saw this was when Saizou attacked us, he used his strength for the first time. Then again when he was nearly drowned by the swimming club. Both times, he gained great strength, but he also becomes more ferocious."

"Should we do something?" Yukari asked.

In the background, the girls heard Tsukune laughing. They turned and saw Tsukune grinning and looking out the window.

"Trust me, there's no stopping Ethan when he decides to go all out. It was one of the reasons everyone was so afraid of him in our old school." He said. He finished putting up the banner for the party and went up to the window. "I feel kind of sorry for Mizore."

Back on the outside, an aura of flames coated Ethan, his gauntlets forming again. Mizore dashed to the side, trying to get some distance from her opponent. Ethan, in response, raised his arms high into the sky, clenching his fists, and brought them down as hard as they could. Upon contact, it created a powerful shockwave that blew away anything that was nearby. That included Mizore and the students that were nearby. The snow woman recomposed herself and dashed forward. She leapt over Ethan and made her way over to the building. Ethan narrowed his eyes as he built up a mass of flame in his right hands. He then threw it like a pitcher in a baseball game. The object zoomed past Mizore and impacted on the wall of the building. Mizore was momentarily dumbfounded by the fact that it didn't explode upon impact. However, she noticed that the flame was glowing more brightly, which led to the memory of Yukari telling her about one of Ethan's attacks.

" **FLAME GRENADE!** " Ethan roared.

As soon as he said that, Mizore back stepped away from the flame just as the flame's light began to intensify. The orb then exploded, a greater amount of force than usual erupting from the attack. The explosion sent Mizore flying and the building's wall to crumble to pieces. The students watching the fight were amazed by this display of power. What was most terrifying about it was that Ethan didn't seem the least bit affected by the attack.

It was like he had no limits to his power.

When the smoke created from the explosion faded, Mizore looked around, finding herself on the ground. She looked behind her to see Ethan standing over her. As this, her heart stopped. Tied in with the fact that he blew a large portion of the school apart and how he still had the clam expression and eyes, she felt like she was looking at death in the eye.

A few seconds of staring later, Ethan did something she didn't expect. He gave her a friendly laugh. With that, his flames faded and his eyes returned to normal. He squatted and offered Mizore a helping hand up. Mizore was confused by his behavior.

"Why… why are you not going to finish me off?" she asked.

At this, Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Finish you off? Why would I do that?" he motioned the hand forward a little more. "We're friends. Remember?"

Still baffled, Mizore slowly took his hand. He pulled her back onto her feet and placed his hands on his hips. "Granted, I guess I lost my temper after you froze me back at the library, so sorry about that." He looked at her with a curious expression for a moment. "Have you ever fought before?"

Mizore shook her head. "No. I practice with my powers a lot, and I practiced a lot of gymnastics when I was younger. But that was my first time in a fight." She answered.

Ethan gave her a small nod. "Okay. Just thought I'd ask. You weren't bad at all… that is until I lost my temper again."

Mizore then raised an eyebrow at Ethan. "Ethan. How long have you been using your flames for?" she asked. "And… if you don't mind me asking… what kind of monster are you?"

At this, despite not showing this, Ethan was a little nervous. "Um, well I… hang on a moment. I probably should've asked this earlier, but why did you freeze me in the first place?"

As if to answer his question, a familiar young girl in a witch outfit appeared from the rubble and summoned a barrage of water basins, all of which struck Mizore with full force.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO MONITOR ETHAN FOR PRESENT IDEAS WHILE WE PREPARED FOR THE PARTY! NOT HAVE HIM DESTROY THE SCHOOL!" Yukari roared.

" _Damn, she's pissed._ " Ethan thought, seeing how Yukari was using more than her usual quota of water basins. When she finished, Mizore was covered in many more bruises than after the fight she and Ethan had. His eyes suddenly widened, as his face formed a look of confusion. "Wait. Party?"

At this, Kurumu, Mizore and Tsukune slowly rose from the rubble. They all looked dizzy and were swaying from side to side, but still managed to hold up the banner that said 'Happy Birthday' as high as they could reach.

"You guys… planned a surprise party? For me?" Ethan was more than surprised.

"We heard that your birthday was coming up, so we thought we'd celebrate the occasion." Yukari explained.

After she recovered from her dazed, Moka continued for Yukari. "We heard that you also don't like celebrating your birthday, but we still wanted to do something special. Everyone helped."

Yukari went back to speaking. "Yeah. Me, Moka, Kurumu, Tsukune, Mizore, Rebecca-"

"Hang on. Rebecca?" Ethan asked.

"Yep. We saw her and asked if she could keep you busy for a bit. Just as well, she was headed for the library as well when we saw her." Yukari looked at Ethan's expression and saw that it was unchanging. This caused her, the rest of the girls and Tsukune to become worried.

"Do you… not like it?" Moka asked.

After a few more seconds of silence, Ethan broke into a spontaneous fit of laughter. He had to hold his sides to support himself. His friends looked at each other in confusion as they couldn't understand what was going on.

"I'm-I'm sorry guys I…" Ethan had to pause to take a deep breath, which helped to calm himself down. "Sorry. I was laughing there because… well… how can I _not_ like this? True I never liked to celebrate my birthday for a while but…" he brushed his hair back with his hand. "I really appreciate what you guys did." He said in a much calmer tone.

At this, everyone's faces lit up. Tsukune got back on his feet and smiled. "Well, now that the birthday boy is on board, we can… OH CRAP! WE FORGOT TO GET A PRESENT!"

Ethan quickly raised a hand in response. "No need Tsukune." He said. He looked towards Mizore and smirked. "That fight was more than enough of a present."

"A duel between fire and ice isn't something you see everyday, is it?" Yukari commented.

All the teens laughed slightly for a moment. It was then interrupted when Ethan clapped his hands together. "Well? It's a party, isn't it? Let's get to it!"

At this, everyone cheered. They went back into the building and gathered as much if the party materials as they could. They were all surprised to see that the cake Kurumu made was still intact, with a single candle in the center. Kurumu, who had recovered from her own daze, held it up to Ethan and smiled.

"Make a wish, birthday boy." She said.

Ethan stared at the candle. Seeing as it was part of the tradition, be thought best to comply. He thought about it for a few seconds before blowing out the candle. Everyone clapped.

"What did you wish for?" Tsukune asked.

Ethan looked back at his long-term friend and smiled. "That we don't get stuck with cleaning up this mess."

At this, all present, except for Ethan, looked back at the destroyed part of the building. They fainted a second later, Ethan managing to catch the cake before it hit the ground. He couldn't help but laugh. He then thought back on the actual wish he made.

" _I wish… for us all to be happy. Now and in the future, no matter what comes our way._ "

 **[AAAAAAND… that's another chapter down, a fair bit more to go. Before I sign off, I just want to say thanks. A lot of you gave me great reviews for the story, which really helped to inspire my writing. I know I don't say it enough, but it's the truth. It also makes me happy to hear that you guys enjoyed the story so far, so I'll be sure to keep on writing till the end. Also, I want to say sorry again that it took so long, but with my other stories and the things i have to do outside of writing, it's not always easy to keep up. hope no one is too mad.**

 **Well, that's all from me for now. Hope to you enjoyed this chapter and that you're all having a nice day. See you all later.}**


	11. Study problems

**[Hi everyone. Hope you're all doing well today. I should say that this chapter includes what I consider to be one of the cringiest episodes of the anime for myself, that being for a number of reasons, but I thought I'd try it as an experiment. Let me know what you all think.**

 **Right. Here we go.]**

"OH MAN, WHAT DO I DOOO!"

"TSUKUNE, CALM DOWN! YOU CAN DO IT!"

Tsukune and Ethan were in the middle of a heated discussion where Tsukune was panicking to new levels and Ethan was trying to calm him, even resorting to slapping him across the face repeatedly.

"CALM! DOWN! CALM! DOWN! CALM! DOWN!" Ethan roared as he continued to smack him across the face. After one final smack, Tsukune stopped panicking.

"Wow. Thanks Ethan. I didn't think that could actually work." Tsukune said.

"I saw a documentary a while ago that proved that it could work." Ethan answered. "Oh, and Tsukune?"

"Yes?" the regular human asked. Low and behold, Ethan gave him one last smack across the face.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR!?"

"Just making sure." Ethan answered to an enraged Tsukune.

"What are you two doing?"

The two friends turned to see Moka standing behind them with a bewildered look on her face. Tsukune laughed nervously while Ethan rolled her eyes.

"Tsukune's worried about the upcoming maths test coming up for the finals. I'm trying to calm him down." Ethan answered.

Moka then focused her attention on Tsukune, a look of worry appearing on her face. "Are you struggling?"

"Kind of. With all the crazy stuff we had to deal with I haven't had the time to study." Tsukune then gripped the sides of his head and began to look worried. "And if I don't pass my parents are going to cry their hearts out!"

"Tsukune, you're panicking again." Ethan stated as he raised his arm up again.

Seeing what he was about to do, Tsukune quickly held up his arms into the air. "I'm fine!" he quickly said.

Moka couldn't help but laugh at the antics of the two. When she recovered she pondered on an idea on how to help. Then, suddenly, it clicked. Looking back at Tsukune with a smile, she said. "Why don't we study together?" she said.

"…Really?" Tsukune asked. Ethan shook his head at how Tsukune's eyes were practically sparkling with anticipation.

"Yeah. I can help you understand the bits that you're having problems with." She replied.

"Oh thank you Moka. Thank you so much." Tsukune said as he proceeded to bow.

Moka blushed, now feeling happy that she is able to help Tsukune. "It's… it's no…"

Unfortunately for her, the moment ended when a familiar bluenette appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to hug Tsukune like her life depended on it.

"You're going to be STUDYING TOGETHER!?" she cried. She then looked over at Moka and gave her a stern glare. "There's no way I'm leaving you alone with her." She said harshly.

"I reckon it's more of a hazard leaving him with yourself, Kurumu." Ethan said as he pointed towards Tsukune's head. The girls looked down and saw that Tsukune wasn't moving.

"NOT AGAIN!" Kurumu screamed.

As if to respond, a water basin appeared over Kurumu's head and struck her hard. With Kurumu's grip released from Tsukune, Yukari jumped in and began shaking him herself. "Come on Tsukune! You can make it."

Suddenly, a kunai knife appeared and whizzed past Yukari's head, scaring the life out of her and causing her to topple over. Mizore popped out of a nearby bin and glared at the other girls. Before any of them could take any form of action, Ethan ignited his right hand and held it out.

"Do I need to remind yee lot to behave!?" he exclaimed angrily.

All the girls were silent for a moment before nodding in unison. Satisfied, Ethan extinguished his flames and went over to Tsukune and slapped him across the face again, waking him up.

"Wha-who-where?" he asked. He looked up and saw Ethan, then the girls, which helped him register what happened. "Oh man."

"I know." Ethan said as he helped Tsukune onto his feet. He looked over at the three more recent arrivals and glared at them. "What is up with you lot?" he asked them.

"We overheard your conversation about Tsukune and Moka studying together." Kurumu answered.

"We want to join!" Yukari continued.

"Please?" Mizore finished.

Moka smiled and clapped her hands together. "That's a great idea! With all of us together we can all help each other out." She said.

"I say that Kurumu would need the most help since most of her brains went to her chest." Yukari commented.

"What was that?" Kurumu asked angrily.

Ethan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He then turned around and walked away from the group. Moka saw him leave and looked confused.

"Ethan? Don't you want to join?" she asked.

"No thanks. Rebecca helped me catch up already. Besides, I have somewhere else I need to be." He answered before walking off.

Kurumu folded her arms and glared at Ethan as he walked off. "What could he be doing that's more important than helping out his friend?"

Moka's face softened when she saw him walk off. After he told her about his dreams, she was concerned when he went off to do things on his own, especially after figuring out that it may have been a phoenix that was responsible. That, in itself was unusual, as they were usually peaceful creatures.

" _I hope he's okay._ " She thought.

….

Ethan walked back over to the Cliffside where he would usually train to improve his abilities. He sat on the edge and stared out at the crimson waters. He was currently holding the staff that the chairman gave him a while ago. He held his hand over the seal, the one thing that was managing to hold back the staff's true power.

After seeing the dream of all his friends being engulfed in flame, and that one of the mystery figues turned out to be Mizore had him on edge. He was certain that something big was on its way, and he felt that he needed every option available to gain more power.

"I'll be ready." He said to himself.

"I'm sure you will."

In an instant, Ethan was on his feet and held the staff with both hands. He was now face to face with the hooded figure. Said figure gave Ethan a blade-like smile.

"Hello, Drake." The figure said.

"Cut the crap." Ethan said, clearly not happy with seeing the hooded figure. "What do you want? And don't give some kind of bullshit answer. I'll know."

The hooded figure looked at him with surprise under his hood. A second later, he placed his hands behind his head and stretched his back muscles. "Okay. To answer your question, I'm here to offer some assistance." He said. He pointed at the staff. "You want to be able to access the full potential of the staff, right?"

Ethan's eyes widened slightly after hearing the figure's words. "Why do you care?"

The hooded figure shrugged. "I don't know. Guess I need something to keep me entertained." He then observed the pentagram on the staff. "Did you know that the pentagram is actually a symbol of good? It's what makes it a good sealing symbol for forbidden power." He said.

"I know. It's an upside down one that represents evil, right? With the two points at the bottom pointing up."

The hooded figure was silent for a moment before smirking. "Well… someone's done their research."

"Ignorance may be bliss, but it can cause a lot more problems than we think." Ethan said back.

"Hmph. True that." He lowered his hand from his head and put them in his pockets. "We're getting a little side tracked here. My point is that if you want that power, you'll need that seal removed."

"I know." Ethan stated. "I discussed it with someone before… and I also agreed to keep the staff sealed."

"Fair enough I guess. You know what they say; ' _Absolute power corrupts absolutely_ ', right?" he said. His face then turned into a frown underneath the hood. "Just remember you're not going to be able to rely on your own power forever. Just wait and see." He said.

In a brief moment, a leaf blew past Ethan's eyes, covering his sight of the hooded figure. When the leaf passed, he was gone. Surprised, Ethan's eyes widened. He then glared where the hooded figure was standing and tightened his grip on the staff, which caused it to glow in response. Ethan looked back at the staff when he saw the light coming off of it.

"… Not today." He said as he put the staff back in the case.

….

Over in one of the vacant classrooms, Yukari was taking the lead in teaching Tsukune, Kurumu, Moka and Mizore one of the topics likely to come up on the test. Moka and Tsukune were able to keep up with the work, Kurumu was completely lost and Mizore was taking notes… which turned out to be Tsukune's name written out multiple times.

When they were finished, Moka looked over to Tsukune. "So, are you able to understand what was going on?" she asked.

"Yeah, everything's clear now. You guys sure know your stuff." Tsukune answered back.

"YEAH!? WELL I'M COMPLETELY LOST" Kurumu roared. She then clung on to Tsukune. "Please be my personal teacher, please."

"I see you guys got everything handled."

The group turned towards the doorway to see Ethan holding a duffel bag. He went over to an empty table and emptied the contents, revealing them to be various drinks and snacks.

"Wh… what's with all these?" Yukari asked.

"A gift from Rebecca and Ann. They heard about your study session and asked me to drop these off." Ethan answered.

"Oh, that's so nice." Moka said. "We'll have to thank them when we see them." She turned back to Tsukune. "Hey, Tsukune, would you like me to make a copy of my notes for you?"

"Oh, you don't have to do it out by hand, you can just photocopy it." Tsukune answered.

"The school doesn't have one, jack-ass." Ethan said.

"…Oh, right." Tsukune said.

"It's okay, I don't mind, as long as I'm able to help." Moka said.

Ethan shook his head. "Honestly, Moka, you're too nice for your own good."

….

Around an hour later, Moka had made full copies of her notes. She handed the booklet containing them to Tsukune, who couldn't be more grateful.

"Thanks Moka, you really helped a lot." Tsukune said.

"Oh, it's no bother really." She then turned to Ethan. "Would you like me to make you some notes as well?"

"I'm good, thanks." he sat down on the floor and looked through his bag and pulled out his sketchpad. He then took out a pencil and a rubber. He looked up to the other two. "In case, I'm working on another comic strip."

"What kind? Are you going to introduce more classics or do something new?"

Ethan smiled and tapped the bottom of the pencil on his lip. "I've an idea for an original. But…"

"Oh, staying late, are we?" came a voice from behind them.

Tsukune and Mizore jumped while Ethan remained motionless. The two that were frightened looked to see a woman with shoulder-length brown hair, round glasses and brown eyes. She wore a white shirt, a black skirt, leggings and high-heel shoes.

"Ms. Ririko." Ethan said out loud. She was one of the many teachers that Ethan couldn't stand in this school. The way she dressed was very… revealing, which made the pyromancer question if whether or not this school had a dress code for teachers. It was also rumored that, while she was a serious and passionate teacher, she would take it too seriously and conduct private tutoring sessions that were… controversial to say the least.

Ms. Ririko looked down at Ethan and smiled. "Good evening Mr. Drake" she then looked over to Tsukune and Moka. "My apologies for scaring you both. What has you all staying here so late? Club activities."

"What? Oh no, we were actually just finishing up a study session." Tsukune answered.

"Huh? Study session?" the teacher asked.

"That's right." Moka said.

"… I'm afraid I can't let you continue on like that." The teacher said.

At this, Tsukune and Moka looked at Ms Ririko with shock while Ethan looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. It was strange, especially since study group sessions would've been encouraged back in the human world, as well as by Ms Nekonome from time to time.

"Is there something wrong with students studying together?" Ethan asked with a bewildered look.

"I'm afraid there is." She said as she was adjusting her glasses. "Granted, while it's great to see that you're all making an effort, student's studying together is a bad idea because they end up goofing off and not get any work done."

"Wha? But we've got tons of work done! Tsukune's gotten so much better with my help."

"Your help?" Ms Ririko asked. She looked over to Ethan. "I thought that you would've helped to contribute more to the group. What did you do?"

At this, Ethan closed is sketchpad and stood up so that he could see the woman eye to eye. "I wasn't part of their study group. I was taking care of… personal matters." He said. as he spoke, he seemed a bit troubled, not unnoticed by Moka.

"I see. My apologies" The educator said. She then turned back to Tsukune. "Still, Mr. Aono. I would like for you to meet me tomorrow after school for some extra lessons, just to help with anything else you may be stuck on."

Moka suddenly looked a little hurt. Ms Ririko was basically undermining her efforts to help Tsukune. Ethan saw this and was doing his best to hold in his anger; there was a time and a place to beat doen people he didn't like, and this wasn't it… unfortunately.

"Um…" Tsukune wasn't sure as to whether or not that he should accept. He liked the idea of learning more for the test, but he didn't want to offend Moka.

"It… it's okay, Tsukune." Moka said.

Tsukune looked back at Moka, who was looking down and fidgeting with her hands. "What?"

"If it helps you with your studies… then you should go for it." She said. She seemed okay, but Tsukune and Ethan could tell otherwise.

"It's settled then. I will see you after school tomorrow." Ms Ririko. With that, she exited the room. Tsukune looked back to Moka and was going to ask if she was alright, but Moka was already exiting the room. Tsukune wasn't sure of what to make of it, while Ethan shook his head from frustration.

" _This is not going to end well_." Ethan thought.

….

After school the next day, Ethan was in the auditorium with Rodrigo. The drama club leader was working on an original piece for a play and he had asked Ethan to help him out. After half an hour of acting, Ethan called for a break.

" _Oh, hath no stomach for thy tongue?_ " Rodrigo asked.

"Yep. Fairly fed up." Ethan said bluntly.

Rodrigo pouted in response. He went over to a table that had a lot of water bottles and fruit on it. When Ethan saw the fruit, he looked confused. "What's with the fruit? Aren't you more of a burger and chips kind of guy?"

Rodrigo looked at him in confusion. "Chips? You mean fries?"

"Yeah, they're called chips over in most of Europe." Ethan explained, which caused Rodrigo to raise his eyebrows with realisation.

"I see. Well, to answer your question, I decided to try and lose a bit of weight for this play, due to the part I need to play wouldn't require a fat piece of lard like me."

"Right you are." Ethan said.

"Hey!" Rodrigo yelled, causing Ethan to laugh at his anger. When he calmed down, Rodrigo noticed to Ethan was a little distracted. "Are you alright Ethan?"

Ethan looked back at his dramatic friend for a moment. He then sighed and shook his head. "Not really. There was a bit on an issue yesterday and now I don't know how it's going to end. I'm not even sure about how to help fix it."

"… Maybe you're overthinking it."

"What?" Ethan asked.

Rodrigo took a bite out of an apple, which caused him to gag. When he managed to swallow the healthy food, he continued with what he was saying. "You seem to be thinking of multiple ways to fix your current dilemma. Why don't you just to stick to your usual method." He suggested.

"Because my method involves pummeling them into the ground. And this particular problem could get me expelled if I do." Ethan explained. Seeing how he could trust Rodrigo, he decided to tell him. "It involves… Ms Ririko."

"Ah… she has one of your friends ensnared in a private lesson, eh?" the actor asked.

Ethan nodded. "Yeah. The real problem though is that she undermined Moka's ability to help Tsukune with his studies. And damn she can tutor."

Rodrigo was silent for a moment, trying to come up with a solution. However, in the end, all he could do is shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sorry, dear pyromancer, I'm afraid I have no answers for you. Unlike the classic sidekick in a hero's story, I cannot be of aid." He then said.

Ethan shook his head slightly and grinned. "No, it's okay. To be honest, it felt good just to get it off my chest." He picked up his bag and smirked at

"Anytime." Rodrigo said. He then decided to get back to learning his lines.

…

Ethan went all over the school looking for Moka and Tsukune. During his mini-journey, he came across something unusual. A lot of the boys in the school seemed a little… disconnected from reality, so to speak. They wouldn't be paying attention to what was going around them, their eyes didn't seem in focus and, strangely, were muttering something under their breath. He was slightly curious about what it was, but he was a bit too concerned about his friends.

He thought about his dramatic friend's words and, as much as he appreciated his friend's words, he wasn't going to just stand by. He would, however, need to come up with a new solution to this problem.

""How do I solve this issue." Ethan said to himself.

His train of thought was interrupted when he heard the sound of an argument. He paced over to the source and, unsurprisingly, he found that it was Kurumu and Yukari who were arguing. However, he saw that this time Kurumu had tied up the young witch and was dragging her, despite the witch's protests.

Sighing, the pyrokinetic decided to walk over to see what was going on, despite his better judgement. "Hey! What are you two doing?" he asked them.

"This little runt's gonna help me study for the test." Kurumu answered.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "I thought you already went through a study session with the rest of the group."

"Kurumu still couldn't get it, so she's roping me into helping her study. LITERALLY!" Yukari said, clearly annoyed about being tied up, as she should be.

The succubus walked on, dragging poor Yukari with her. Ethan walked up beside her, mainly because he was still confused on some parts. "How could you not have gotten better after that session? Even Mizore has got the hang of it now after that."

"THAT'S WHAT I ASKED HER!" Yukari yelled.

"I just can't take in information as well as others." Kurumu explained.

Ethan raised his eyebrows in understanding, as he sometimes had the same problem. "Well, in that case, I know a few tricks that could help you remember the stuff you learn." He said, feeling a small bit of sympathy for her.

Kurumu looked towards Ethan with starry eyes, a sudden shining hope clear in her eyes. "OH THANK YOU!"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING EARLIER!?" Yukari yelled, seeing how she could've gotten out of being kidnapped sooner.

Before anyone else could say anything, Kurumu bumped into someone and fell onto her backside, releasing her grip on Yukari's leash and granted the young witch the time to hide behind Ethan. When all looked to see that who it was she bumped into, they found that it was Tsukune.

"Oh, Tsukune. Sorry about that." Kurumu said.

The boy wasn't listening to her. Instead, he was mumbling something to himself. Kurumu looked at him in confusion, Yukari was trying to figure out what Tsukune was saying, but Ethan wore a stern frown.

"Uh, Tsukune? Are you okay?" Kurumu asked.

Yukari suddenly perked up when she realised what it was he was saying. "No way! He's reciting advanced mathematical problems. Even we haven't covered that kind of stuff yet."

Ethan looked at the young witch with a look of surprise. "Really? Are you sure?"

Yukari nodded. Ethan looked back at the boy with a more serious expression. "Well, in that case, the guys in school have been getting a lot smarter recently."

"What do you mean?" Kurumu asked.

"All the other guys around school have been acting the same way. So either they've been studying real hard or-"

"Someone's causing trouble again." Yukari said.

They all looked towards Tsukune again, who was still going over the difficult mathematics. After a moment, Ethan's eyes suddenly widened. He then made a sinister looking smile and his eyes looked cold and calculating. "I knew it."

The tone of voice he used caused the girls to shiver where they stood. "What… um… do you mean?" Yukari managed to say.

"Keep an eye on Tsukune, would you?" he asked as he walked off. "I need to have a little conversation with a certain maths teacher."

As he walked off, both Kurumu and Yukari, the latter managing to wriggle her way out of the rope, looked like they had seen a ghost. When something like this was to occur, he would lose his temper and try to hit the source of the problem… literally. However, now he's going to try and… talk?

"Did he actually mean he's just going to talk?" Kurumu asked.

"I hope not." Yukari answered. "I'm scared." She then admitted.

…..

Moka walked down the corridor holding a new notebook. In it were some new notes that she had written that may be of use to Tsukune. She didn't know how Ms Ririko would react if she were caught, but she just wanted to help her friend.

" _I hope he likes it_." She thought as she looked down at the ground while walking.

"Keep your head up while walking!" someone said,

Moka jumped up from the sudden sound and looked in front of her to see Ethan. He seemed unusually calm today, which seemed slightly unusual, but she didn't think much of it. "Oh, hi Ethan. How are you?" she asked politely.

"To sum it up, I'm pissed." Ethan said. he then looked at the notebook she was holding. Pointing at it, he asked "What's with the book?"

"Oh, it's filled with more notes that could help Tsukune. I know what Ms Ririko said, but-"

"Let me stop you there." Ethan said, holding up his hand. "Don't listen to what she said girl. You helped Tsukune a great deal, I could see it. After saying what she said, see just doesn't realise that you're as talented as you are at tutoring."

At this, Moka was quite surprised. She had never received such a compliment before. "Wow… thank you, Ethan." She said, her spirits now lifted again form his words.

"Think nothing of it, I say it as it is. Also…" he rubbed the back of his head. "I kind of owed you anyway."

At this, Moka raised an eyebrow. "You 'owed' me?"

"You helped me with the stress I've been having with my dreams. I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but I appreciate it. Really."

When Moka heard him mention the dreams, she suddenly remembered what she wanted to tell him about the creature he saw. However, now that she had the opportunity, she was a bit hesitant. She knew that he would appreciate any information, even if it was a dead end, but she didn't feel comfortable sending him on a wild goose chase.

"Moka?" Ethan looked at her with a confused expression. "You okay?"

Moka was brought out of her thoughts and shook her head slightly. After a brief moment of extra silence, Moka made her decision. "I'm fine. But there's something important I need to tell you."

"Fair enough." Ethan said. He then pointed behind her. "But tell me as we walk. I have someone I need to talk to."

"Oh, you do? Well then, I-"

"Oh no you don't. I want to hear what you said. Tell me as we head there." Ethan butted in, soon walking off as he finished speaking. Moka was surprised at how fast he was walking. She struggled to keep up with him at first, but she soon matched his pace. She was now curious as to what had him walking so fast.

"Who exactly are you wanting to talk to that has you walking so fast?" the vampiress asked.

"Ms Ririko herself." Ethan answered simply.

"Huh? Why?" Moka asked.

Ethan took the liberty of explaining what he saw with a number of the boys in school. He then told her of the status that Tsukune was in and how he certainly wasn't like that before going to one of her study sessions. Moka had a look of concern.

"Are you sure you want to confront her about this? She isn't one of the other student's she's a teacher." Moka said.

"We took down that sick-o of a gym teacher, remember?" he looked on with his eyes narrowing by the second. "Besides, there isn't one person in this school who should get away with trying to mess with the school. "And if there is… I'll make sure they'll stop."

Moka looked at him again, only this time with a mix of fear and admiration for his commitment to protect the school. A thought suddenly occurred to her. "What approach are you going to use again?"

"I'm going to have a _peaceful_ conversation with her to see what I can get." He started. He would've continued, only to see an astonished look on the pinkette's face. "What? I can be nice."

"Yes, but… you don't do it very often." She answered back.

"… Okay I see you're point. Just thought I'd try something different since, like you said, it's a teacher this time, not a student. Unless I catch her in the act of something, I'll hold off." He said. They make their way through the corridors more quickly now that Moka was up to speed on what was going on. As they moved, however, a thought entered Ethan's mind. Looking back at his vampiric friend, he asked "By the way, what was it you wanted to say earlier?"

"I, uh… I forgot." Moka said. She didn't really forget, but now wasn't the time to bring up the Phoenix.

"Okay then." Ethan said, not bothering to ponder on it if it couldn't be helped.

…..

A few minutes later, they finally reached Ms Ririko's office. Moka looked a little nervous, as she wasn't looking forward to what this conversation could lead to, but Ethan remained calm. He was about to knock on the door when he suddenly froze, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

"Are you okay Ethan?" Moka asked.

Ethan's nose twitched for a moment before he spoke. "Do you smell… incense?"

Moka paused for a moment to try and pick up the scent he was on about. After she caught the scent, they both kept sniffing until they were up gainst the door. At this, Ethan pulled back and held onto his nose tightly.

"For feck's sake! It smells like someone set a hippy on fire!" he yelled.

After taking in a few breaths of fresh air from a nearby window, Moka looked at the door, surprised at the strong smell. "Well… it's not a pleasant smell, I'll admit that."

"… You don't think there's an actual fire in there, do you?" Ethan asked.

"I, uh…" Moka started.

"Me too, probable cause." Ethan said. he stepped back and his right fist glowed with a golden aura.

"Uh, Ethan, I'm not sure-" before she could finish, Ethan had already hurled his fist at the door, obliterating it. He would've used his flames, but he didn't think it necessary. When the door was on the ground, however, both the fire user and the vampiress were surprised by what they were seeing.

They saw Ms Ririko, who was wearing some kind of lingerie and held a riding crop in her hand, on the ground and apparently straddling a male student. At this, Moka was appalled, while Ethan looked absolutely stunned.

"What the feck?" Ethan managed to say. It wasn't often that he was shocked seeing something, but he found something that, at long last, managed to accomplish such a feet.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"Moka roared.

At this, the teacher turned around and had a look of pure anger in her eyes. "How DARE you interrupt this study session!" she roared. She got back onto her feet, kicking the male student to one side. As she did, the bottom half of her body suddenly morphed. Her legs fused together, changing colour, becoming scaly and grew longer. When she was finished, she looked like a cross between a woman and a giant snake.

Ethan came out of his daze and saw the new form of the teacher. "Well I'll be damned. This explains a lot. You're a Lamia, aren't you?"

Moka had heard of this race before. They are a race of female monsters that had the upper body of a woman and the lower of a snake. They were said to have the power to control minds, which would explain what was going on with the male students.

Ethan summoned his flame gauntlets and smirked at the inappropriately dressed teacher. "Looks like this teacher's making an army of mindless nerds that she can 'play' with, so to speak."

Moka glared at the teacher with a surprising level of anger that wouldn't normally be present. "How can you take advantage of student's like that!?" she roared.

"I have a responsibility to educate my students. How I do it doesn't matter so long as i get results. Thanks to me, they know even the most difficult mathematical formulas that others can only dream of?"

"Christ. She's just like that looney actor who tried to wreck Rodrigo's play." Ethan said out loud.

The particular comment seemed to have gotten to her, as her face was filled with even more anger. " **HOW DARE YOU!** " she roared as she launched her tail at Ethan. However, Ethan saw something like this coming, which is why he chose the gauntlets. He raised a hand up and grabbed a hold of the end, just inches away from his face.

His grip on the tail tightened, and the fire from his gauntlet were becoming hotter by the second. As they did, Ms Ririko howled in agony as her tail was being singed in seconds.

" **LET ME GO!** " she roared as she tried to pull the tail back.

"If you insist." Ethan said. he used his free hand to ignite part of the tail and released his grip. As he did, the force of tail being pulled by its owner sent it flying back towards her and struck her square in the face, the flames catching onto her hair. As she screamed, Ethan looked down and saw that the student was starting to regain proper consciousness. He guessed as long as the Lamia could keep her concentration, she can continue to control her victims. Moka noticed this as well. She turned to Ethan.

"We need to beat her now! it's the only way to free the students!" she said.

"It's like you read my mind." Ethan said. After adjusting the collar on his shirt, he slowly walked over towards the teacher, intending to finish this as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the teacher regained her composure and stared at the pryokinetic, oddly enough with her hair still intact and her face covered in soot, with killer intent.

"You will not get in the way of me imparting important life knowledge to the next generation!" she roared. She picked up a vial of a strange green liquid and threw it directly at Ethan. Upon impact, it cracked and covered Ethan in a flurry of green, volatile flames. Moka rushed in to help him, only for the teacher's snaked tail to wrap around her and pull her to the Lamia's side.

"Watch… just watch what happens when those who get in my way." She said calmly, followed by a maniacal laugh. Worry and dread filled her mind as she watched the flames burn where Ethan had been standing. She was about to call out to him when, surprisingly, he heard a small snicker from the flames. This also caused the Ms Ririko to stop laughing.

" _ **Boy, whatever these flames are…**_ " The flames quickly changed from green to orange, and they soon became a lot less volatile, as if they were becoming controlled. In another instant, the flames disappeared, revealing Ethan with his arms outstretched and his eyes glowing once more. However, what was quite different was that his flames were now scarlet. " _ **They sure can fill a guy up!**_ " he exclaimed.

"What… what is this!?" Ms Ririko demanded.

"It's quite simple, actually." All turned to see Mizore standing outside the door with her ice claws ready. However, with the heightened temperature, she wasn't holding up very well. "Like me, Ethan can control his natural element. However, where he lacks full control, he can absorb fire more naturally and easily compared to others. The fire that you used, whatever was in it, added to his strength."

Ethan flexed his fingers for a moment. He then looked over at Mizore and motioned his head towards Moka. Seeing what he was trying to say, Mizore managed to form some ice kunai and threw them into the tail that trapped Moka. With that, the young vampiress sprinted out of the room, rescuing the now unconscious male student. Ethan stayed firmly where he was, his eyes and flames respectively becoming brighter.

Moka looked back at her friend with confusion. "What's going on?" she asked out loud.

"I think we may need to close the door." Mizore said, slowly closing the door behind Moka.

With the door closed, Ethan's flames further intensified, causing the room temperature to rise quickly. The serpent, not caring about the heat, reading herself for another attack. "What? You think that with those flames you can you beat me?"

Ethan remained silent. This caused the teacher to look slightly irritated. "Answer me!" she exclaimed. Instead of an answer, Ethan looked down at his feet and widened the distance between them, apparently trying to give himself more support for something. As he wasn't concentrating on the teacher, she was becoming further angered. " **ANSWER ME, DAMN IT!** "

Ethan brought his gaze back to the teacher, a dark smirk appearing on his face. This caused the teacher to shiver slightly.

" _ **Ms Ririko… for taking advantage of Yokai Academy students in such a manner… I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget.**_ " Ethan said, his voice echoing as he spoke. With that, he looked up toward the ceiling and all the flames covering his body traveled up to his mouth. After he had gathered enough, her looked at the teacher and roared.

"rrrRRRRAA _ **AAAAAAGH!**_ "

A pillar of fire erupted from his mouth and shot Ms Ririko. However, the force of the attack was so strong that the flames shot out from the room and went through every part of the building that was in its way. When it eventually burst through the school, it continued on, a massive column of fire burning brightly and shocking all the students and teachers in the school. Luckily, the attack had only hit the intended target.

When the attack finally faded, Ethan's flames returned to their original color and Ms Ririko was standing where she was. However, just the whites of her eyes were showing and she was muttering something to herself.

"Lesson learned?" Ethan asked.

"Yes sir." She said before falling onto her back and falling unconscious.

Ethan placed his hand over his mouth, remembering the amount of power that had been unleashed from that attack. But that wasn't the main concern that the pyromancer had. He grinned and clenched his fist in a victorious fashion. "Finally! I was able to breathe fire!" he said, overjoyed that he managed to accomplish something he had only done once before and without knowing it. A sudden knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts.

"IS it safe to come in?" Moka asked.

"Yep, c'mon." Ethan said.

The door opened and the girls, along with the boy victim who seemed to have regained control of himself, looked in and saw both Ms Ririko and the destruction that Ethan had caused. The girls sweat dropped and the boy with pure petrification.

"Whoa… now _that_ guy's a monster." He said. When Ethan made eye-contact with him, the boy panicked and ran away from the area. As he did, Ethan laughed hysterically for a monet before turning his attention to the girls.

"I went a little overboard, didn't I?"

"A little." Moka admitted.

"I don't see the problem with it." Mizore stated, prompting a look f confusion from Moka.

Ethan flexed his fingers and proceeded to walk out of the room. "C'mon, we ought to check how Tsukune is now." he said. "Besides… we still have a test to study for."

….

A week later, everyone had heard about what had happened with Ms Ririko. However, the story got twisted and, somehow, Mizore and Moka were given credit for taking her down with Ethan as their side-kick. Ethan didn't mind in the slightest, as it took most of the attention off of him, but Mizore and Moka weren't happy with the extra attention.

Meanwhile, all the boys had been freed from Ms Ririko's control. Ethan's attack made sure of that. However, much to the victims' horror, all the knowledge that she had injected into their heads was completely wiped away. As such, Yukari took the liberty of helping them out, thinking it would be great for publicity, and Tsukune, who had taken it the worst, got help from Moka. Thankfully, all had gotten decent scores, so there were no worries.

As of now, Tsukune, Moka and Ethan were all walking together, with Tsukune and Moka doing most of the talking.

"Seriously, Moka, I can't thank you enough. Without you I never would've passed. I'm sorry that I turned you down before and hurt your feelings." Tsukune said.

Moka smiled gleefully at him and giggled. "Don't worry about it Tsukune. I was happy to help. It was the least I could do since you're my friend and…"

"…and?" Tsukune asked.

However, he soon regretted asking when Moka latched onto him and began drinking his blood again.

"AAAAAHH!" Tsukune screamed.

"Guess she also her way of saying thanks for letting you act as her personal blood supply." Ethan butted in.

When she was finished, Tsukune was lying on the ground with very little consciousness. Sighing at his friend, he picked him up and hoisted him onto his shoulders. "One of these days, Moka, you're going to have to find a new source." He said to Moka.

"Oh, but he's just so yummy." Moka defended.

Ethan chuckled t his friend's comment. When he was finished however, a thought occurred to him. "Hey, Moka. You wanted to talk about something earlier. What was it?"

At this, the vampiress froze. "Oh… I, uh…"

"If you're going to say that you've forgotten, don't. I know you weren't honest the last time you said it." He stated, causing Moka to blush. "No need to get embarrassed, but I'd rather that you just tell me what's up."

After hearing Ethan saying that, and seeing the seriousness in his face, she sighed in defeat, knowing there was no way out.

"Okay… it's just… I think I know what the monster you came across in the hotel was."

At this, Ethan's eyes widened in shock. So much so that he lost his grip on Tsukune and let him fall onto the ground. He rushed up to Moka and grabbed her arms, not to tightly, but it still surprised the vampiress.

"Tell me everything." Ethan demanded.

 **[Alright, I'm wrapping it up for now. Let me tell you, I wasn't sure about writing this episode since it was about Ms Ririko's… controversial study sessions, but it wasn't too nad in the end I think. Also I thought it would be a good opportunity to bring back the breath attack that showed he had fire based abilities. Anyway, before I head off, just want to say that I hope you're all having a good day and I'll see you next time. Peace.**

 **P.S. Some of the stuff I wrote had references from other media. If you want, you check to see if you can pick them out and I'll tell you which ones they were in the next chapter. See you all later.]**


	12. A hell of a day out

**[Hi everyone. Hope you're all feeling well today. Before we head into the story, just want to say thanks to Luis5224 for the very thorough feedback and for the suggestions. They ain't bad at all, and I will think about the ideas. Can't promise if they'll all be implemented into the story, but I will think about it. Also, just want to say thanks for the general feedback I've been getting for the story, you're all sound out. Right. If everyone's ready, let's get into the story. Enjoy.]**

 **[Almost forgot, I said at the end of the last chapter that I'd say what I was trying to reference in some parts, so here's the short list.**

" **It smells like some set a hippy on fire." Sheldon Cooper from the US sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory'**

 **Ethan's roar attack. More so inspired by Natsu Dragneel from 'Fairy Tail' (You were bang on masters123lfm)**

 **Right, with that out of the way, let's get started]**

"A Phoenix!?"

Moka had just told Ethan about her suspicions about what may have happened on the night of the fire that took Ethan's family and friends. After she told him about the Phoenix, the pyrokinetic was beyond confused.

"I thought that the Phoenix's were peaceful." Ethan said out loud.

Moka slightly nodded her head. "Yeah. The only time they would ever attack is if they were attacked themselves or if someone they cared about was in danger." She said. Her hand then went for her rosary, which she gripped gently as a look of concern covered her face.

"… if that's the case…" Ethan started, followed by a strong clenching of fists. "Then there's more problems in this case then I thought."

Moka looked at him with a look of surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I thought, after seeing that dream, that the monster I saw in it was responsible. But if what you say about the Phoenix is true, then there's a chance that someone else was involved." Ethan answered. He kneeled onto the ground and frowned slightly, focusing his vision on the ground. "I'm back to square one."

" _We're_ back to square one." Moka corrected him.

Ethan was slightly surprised by this comment. He turned back towards Moka, who had walked up closer to him and knelt down beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're my friend. Any problem you have me and the others are with you. Never forget that." She said.

The pyrokinetic smirked and turned his head back. He interlocked his fingers and rested his head on them. "You're a good friend, Akashiya."

Moka grinned. "So are you… Drake." She said, following the same style as him, causing Ethan to chuckle slightly. It came to an end quickly when Moka realized something. She looked back and saw Tsukune still lying on the ground. "OH NO! TSUKUNE!"

Ethan looked over towards Tsukune and shook his head. "We REALLY need to toughen him up." He said.

"You could show a little compassion towards Tsukune, you know." Moka said.

"Why? At this stage it would only freak him out." Ethan pointed out.

Moka rolled her eyes and lifted Tsukune off the ground. Ethan helped Moka carry him and they all made their way over to the nurse's office. Unknown to any of them, the hooded figure was sitting up on a tree branch, munching down on an apple as he observed what was going on. Instead of the usual smirk that he would be wearing as he enjoyed watching Ethan get through his life at the academy, this time he seemed more serious.

"Damn it… it's so boring." He said. He stood up on the branch and materialized the same scythe he used to kill the class rep. "It's so dull when he only uses fire." With that, he swung the scythe around a few times in full circles. A few seconds after, the top of the tree separated multiple pieces and fell onto the ground. By the time they had all fallen, he had already disappeared.

…..

"Okay, I'm going to do it!"

Rebecca and Ann were walking through the school corridors. It was the weekend before the summer break and all the students were excited to be going home. However, Rebecca was more concerned about finally asking Ethan out on a date. Ann, however, wasn't so sure if it would be possible.

"Yeah… sure." Ann said sarcastically.

Seeing the sarcasm in her voice, Rebecca pouted at her friend. "Hey, come on! I've been working up the courage for a while now, why can't you me more supportive?"

"Well… you had multiple opportunities to ask him out, like when we came to see us at the Sherlock Holmes club, before we went to look for Mizore… and didn't you two have a study date?"

"SESSION!" Rebecca suddenly blurted out, her face as red suddenly tomato red. Ann chuckled at her, causing Rebecca to further blush. But she shook her head and calmed herself down. When they came to a corner, Rebecca wasn't watching where she was going and accidentally bumped into someone who was passing by as well. She was knocked onto the ground, landing on her backside.

"Ow." The girl said.

"Sorry Rebecca."

The sound of the voice caused Rebecca to become a lot more alert. She looked up and saw Ethan, who was offering a helping hand up. She fought hard to keep a straight face, but she couldn't hid a sudden blush that appeared on her face.

Ethan then looked a little confused. "Did I… say something wrong?"

"Oh, uh, no. Sorry." Rebecca said, offering up her own hand. Ethan helped her back onto her feet and raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"So, everything good with yourself?" he asked.

"Well… now that you're here… I wanted to ask you something." She managed to say.

"Okay. Fire away." Ethan responded.

Rebecca tried to speak, but her words suddenly failed to come out of her mouth. She tried again, but it didn't work. Ann was starting to look annoyed, but Ethan gave a slight smiled.

"You know, I hear the best way to make sentences is with _words_ and _sentences._ " Ann said with a slight under tone of anger. Clearly she was losing her patience with her friend for some reason.

Ethan could sense the tension between the two, so he spoke up. "It's just as well I bumped into you, I wanted to ask you something."

"R-Really!?" Rebecca managed to say.

"Yeah. I'm heading to this new thing they've opened up. I think it's called Mononoke Arcade."

At this, Rebecca was at a loss for words again. Mononoke Arcade was one of the major talks around the school. It was supposed to be a separate area from the school filled with shopping malls, cinemas, restaurants, and, as the name would suggest, video arcades. The Chairman of the academy had wanted to set it up to give the students something to enjoy when they had some free time. Since the academy was separate from everything else in both the monster and human worlds, there was very little to do.

"You… you want me to come with you?" she asked.

"Yep." Ethan simply answered back. "Hang on, you're not busy are you? "

This time Rebecca was quick to answer, shaking her head quickly. "Oh, no, I'd be happy to go with you. When are you going?"

"In about twenty minutes."

Rebecca widened her eyes in surprise. "Oh… um… that soon?"

"If you want I could wait longer, but, I need to pick up something there as soon as possible and the next bus is tomorrow." Ethan said.

"Aw relax." Ann said, wrapping an arm around Rebecca. "We'll be ready and waiting at the bus stop for you." She said. she then looked at Ethan curiously. "There's a bus going there, right?"

"That's right. See you there." Ethan said. he turned towards one of the windows, opened it and jumped out. Rebecca was surprised, rushing towards the window and looking out to see Ethan landing on the ground with a roll. He got back onto his feet and jogged over towards the bus stop. Rebecca sighed with relief, which was soon taken away when Ann pulled her back by the hem of her blouse, causing Rebecca to yelp with surprise.

"Hey! Whay are you doing!?" Rebecca exclaimed.

"You don't have time to waste! Get ready for the trip!" Ann exclaimed. "And believe me, if you screw this up, I'll be pissed." She continued with an irritated expression.

"R-right." Rebecca said. She looked a little frightened on the outside, but secretly she was squealing with excitement on the inside. " _Finally! I'm going to get the best chance!_ "

…

Rebecca just managed to make it in time for the bus to Mononoke Arcade. She was huffing and puffing as she had to race over to the stop. This would be due to her taking an extra little time to make herself a bit more presentable in Ethan's eyes. She now wore a navy t-shirt with white trimmings along the collar, a black short skirt, black leggings, high-heel shoes and a black cotton jacket. She also carried a small bag which was connected to a belt she wore around her waist.

She pulled out a small make-up mirror and held it out in front of her, wanting to try and make sure she looked well.

"I hope he likes it." She said out loud to herself.

"Like what?"

The girl jumped up into the air from the sudden surprise. She dropped the mirror, which clattered all the way over to the source of the voice. Rebecca turned around and, much to her surprise, saw Tsukune. He was wearing a white button shirt, blue jeans and convex sneakers. He carried his backpack over one of his shoulders.

"Hi Rebecca. You coming on the trip?" he asked.

"I… uh… you're coming too?" she asked.

"Yeah. Ethan was planning on going there alone, mainly because he was just wanting to look for something there, but after he heard more about it he thought we'd all like to come." He explained. He then pointed behind with his thumb. "The rest of the gang should be along soon."

At this, Rebecca felt her world shatter. She had hoped that she would be alone with Ethan, bt that opportunity now came to an end. Tsukune noticed her discomfort and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Rebecca was silent for a moment, fidgeting with her hands. "I… Tsukune, can you keep a secret?"

"Sure." Tsukune answered.

Rebecca took in a deep breath and exhaling before speaking. "I… I have … feeling for Ethan and I want to tell him. I just… don't know how." She said. as soon as she admitted this, she felt like some sort of weight was lifted from shoulders.

As she smiled, Tsukune grinned back. "I was wondering when you would say it out loud."

At this, Rebecca looked at him with widened eyes, clearly surprised. "You knew!?" she exclaimed.

Tsukune scratched the side of his face with his index finger. "Uh, well, Yukari was the first to figure it out. She told me soon after though." He admitted. Seeing her becoming slightly uneasy, Tsukune raised up a hand in sign of good faith. "Relax, we agreed to keep it silent until you tell him."

Rebecca calmed down after hearing this. "Thank you."

"No problem." He said. he then looked a bit more serious as he spoke again. "Tell me… are you sure about your feelings?"

Rebecca nodded in response.

"Well… in that case you need to tell him. It wouldn't be fair to keep it a secret from him." Tsukune said.

"Yeah… you're right." Rebecca admitted. She then looked at him with slight awe. "You really do have some words of wisdom sometimes, don't you?"

"What do you mean sometimes?" Tsukune replied.

Rebecca couldn't hold back a few laughs, which in turn caused Tsukune to laugh as well. Unknown to either of them, unfortunately, the rest of the group travelling to the arcade were hiding behind some bushes. Among the group was Ethan, who wore a black, long-sleeved shirt, grey geans and hiking boots. Moka, Kurumu and Yukari wore the same weekend gear they had before from before the play, Mizore who wore her usual gear, Gin in tracksuit pants, a sports jacket and sneakers and Rodrigo in, surprisingly, a tuxedo.

"Do you see the way those two are talking!?" Kurumu asked angrily.

"Oh, I see it." Mizore said calmly, but her anger was present in her facial expressions.

"Oh my, quite the drama going on here." Rodrigo commented as he adjusted his tie.

"Maybe it's all a misunderstanding?" Moka suggested, while holding back a strong jealously herself.

"Moka could be right." Yukari stated, knowing full well it couldn't have been the scenario they were all thinking, but went along with it because it was entertaining.

"Another one? How does he do it?" Gin said with a waterfall of tears pouring out of his eyes.

"That's what I'd like to know." Ethan stated, grinning at his friend.

Kurumu clenched her fists tightly and glared with great fury at the two. "There's no way I'm letting anyone else go after my destined one. We've got to break them up."

"I don't think they were going out to begin with, Kurumu." Ethan said to the succubus with a deadpanned tone.

"Then we've got to make sure it stays that way." Mizore said.

Ethan sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have invited you lot." He said. he then stepped out of the bushes on his side, making sure to hide the fact that he and the rest of the group were spying on them. When he was in plain view, he put two fingers in his mouth and whistled, catching the attention in the other two. When Tsukune turned and saw him, he smirked, while Rebecca suddenly blushed.

"Hey Ethan. Where's everyone else?" Tsukune asked.

"They'll be here… speak of the devil." As Ethan started speaking, the rest of the group all walked up behind him. The girls put on smiley faces, holding back their jealousy, Gn was wiping his eyes with tissues and Rodrigo still adjusting his tie. Yukari was giggling to herself, which many found unusual but didn't focus much on.

"Okay, now that we're all here, all we need now is the bus." Moka said.

"Isn't it supposed to be here by now?" Rebecca asked.

Ethan grinned and held up his hands, holding up three digits and lowering them one by one as he counted down. "Three, two, one." Upon finishing, they all heard the sound the bus horn blaring, causing all but Ethan to jump. The bus slowly came up to the group from the tunnel, turning around and parking right in front of the tunnel. The door opened to reveal the same bus driver that had driven Tsukune and Ethan to Yokai Academy in the first place.

"Hey kids. You want a ride?" he asked.

Ethan smirked and turned to the rest of the group, motioning for everyone to get on the bus. "Come on! We're burning daylight!"

"Alright, let's go." Tsukune said, jumping onto the bus. Rebecca followed him in, which caused the girls to glare at her from behind. The girls quickly dashed onto the bus. Taking this opportunity, Ethan motioned for Rodrigo and Gin to huddle up for a moment.

"Okay, we should probably do our part to make sure that no one kills each other" Ethan stated. "As entertaining as it would be, I'd rather not cause trouble for the time being."

"Quite right. This place is supposed to be an escape from hardship, not the center of it." Rodrigo commented.

Gin made a cheeky smirk. "Plus, it would be no good if their bodies got damaged in anyway, then there'd be nothing good to look at." He said.

In response, Ethan grabbed him by the throat and squeezed with the strength of a car compactor. Ethan looked calm, but his eyes were glowing again.

"Please don't speak of our friends like that… unless you'd rather lose use of your… 'little buddy'."

Realizing what Ethan meant, Gin began to whimper like a frightened puppy and held up his hands in defense.

"That's what I thought." Ethan said, his eyes returning to their original color. A second later, he released his grip on Gin and let him fall back onto the ground. As soon as he landed, he moved so quickly into the bus, Rodrigo and Ethan were sure that he used his super speed.

Rodrigo looked at the pyrokinetic with surprise. "You weren't joking, were you?"

"Not when my friends are being harassed in one form or another." Ethan answered.

With that, the two entered the bus and took their seats, Rodrigo beside Moka and Ethan beside Yukari. Yukari looked at Ethan with small grin, trying her best to hold back a giggle. Ethan noticed this, but he chose not to ask about it.

" _I wonder if it's there?_ " Ethan thought.

As they went into the tunnel, they were soon in what seemed like a realm of shifting colors. Tsukune and Ethan were a little surprised to have not noticed this before, but neither said a word.

"So, what are we all going to do when we get there?" Moka asked excitedly.

"I'm going to check all the clothes stores and bakeries. That way I can get ideas to impress my Tsukune." Kurumu blurted out.

"Snow cones. Maybe some browsing around to see what's there too." Mizore said.

"Don't know, we'll see when we get there." Moka said.

"Same." Yukari said, suddenly appearing behind Moka and hugging her head. Ethan raised an eyebrow, surprised how Yukari was able to move so quickly. He was about to say something when he suddenly felt a pain shoot through his right arm. He let out a grunt of pain and grasped onto his forearm.

This didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the people on the bus, who all turned in alarm after hearing him. At this point, even if it was just a small grunt, they could tell that Ethan was trying to hold something back.

"Ethan, Are you okay?" Moka asked in alarm.

"… yeah. I think." Ethan answered. He looked down at his hand. At this, he looked at it as if there was something new about it. As it turned out, there was.

"That's weird." Ethan said.

Tsukune looked in with curiosity. "What's weird? Are you growing a new hand?"

"That'd be quite intriguing!" Rodrigo commented.

"No." Ethan stated. "Look."

Ethan held up his hand for everyone to see. They all looked in and saw part of the aura that would appear when using his staff, only it was thicker this time and clearly flowing around his hand.

"You're right. The aura's never acted like that before." Kurumu said.

"Why do you think it's acting like that?" Rebecca asked.

Ethan shook his hand, hoping that the aura would disappear. He growled slightly when he saw that it wouldn't fade. "No clue. But it's driving me up the wall at the moment."

At this, Rebecca became worried. Not only was Ethan having problems that could affect his mood, which can cause major problems if anyone tried to annoy him, but it could hurt her chances of confessing to him.

She looked over towards Tsukune, thinking that he could get some help from him later on. However, as she looked at him, Kurumu, Mizore and Moka saw her, causing their levels of anger at her, which were already high enough, to further enhance.

" _Okay… maybe there is something going on after all._ " Moka thought.

…

After fifteen minutes of travelling on the bus, they finally came across an exit shining through the multi-colored realm. The driver zoomed through the exit, which lead them to something entirely different. They were now in a car park outside of a market place, which was right next to a full blown mall.

When the girls got out of the bus, they suddenly became starry eyed at the many possibilities for shopping. Tsukune, Rodrigo and Gin were quite impressed with the whole structure and were interested to see what was there. Ethan, however, had something different on his mind.

"WOW! THIS PLACE LOOKS SO AMAZING!" Yukari yelled.

"LOOK AT ALL THE STORES!" Kurumu exclaimed,

"Nice." Mizore said.

"I can't wait." Moka said cheerfully.

"Same." Rebecca followed.

The boys all looked at the girls, Tsukune, Gin and Rodrigo confused by how excited they could be over a shopping area, while Ethan simply grinned at their excitement.

"Now if we make it out of here in one piece…" he said to himself quietly.

"Huh?" Tsukune heard Ethan and turned to face him. "You say something Ethan?"

The pyromancer shook his head. "No. Let's get going." He said as he started walking off.

…

As soon as they all entered the shopping center, the girls from the newspaper zoomed away from the group, hoping to find as many places to check out as possible. Tsukune, Gin and Rodrigo all went off to find somewhere to eat, to which Tsukune said that it was to feed the appetite they got after the bus journey.

"We were only on the bus for fifteen minutes." Ethan stated with a look of confusion.

Rebecca was also confused, that was until she saw Tsukune give her a small wink. Realizing that he just gave her the opportunity for her to be with Ethan. She then turned towards Ethan, who now looked at her with a surprised look.

"Don't you want to see what this place has, or something?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "No thanks. You said you had something to do here, right? I'd like to help if I can."

Ethan was silent for a moment, making Rebecca worry that she may have been intruding on a private matter. Ethan, unexpectedly, smirked.

"Sure. We'll grab a bit to eat after." He stated. With that, he made his way towards a certain direction. Startled by his sudden movement, she nearly tripped as she tried to catch up with him, causing him to hold back a small laugh.

As she recovered, she grinned widely at him, glad to see that he was still willing to walk beside the girl.

As they walked off, Mizore's head popped out of a trash can. He had observed the whole thing, causing her to become completely confused.

"Hang on. If she's into Tsukune, then why's she hanging out with Ethan?" she asked out loud.

Deciding not to think much on it for the time being, she jumped out of the bin, brushing off some rubbish sticking to her, and went off to see what Tsukune was up to.

….

"Uh… _this_ is the place you wanted to check?"

Rebecca, understandably, looked at the small unit with a bit of worry. The windows were tinted black, the wooden frame around the entrance looked rotting and damaged and there was a sign written on the door that said "Enter at your own peril".

"This the place." Ethan stated. He looked over toward Rebecca and saw that she was nervous. "You okay? You don't have to go in if you don't want to."

Rebecca quickly shook her head. "N-No, it's fine." She said.

Ethan raised an eyebrow, convinced that she still wasn't comfortable. Instead of saying anything, he just moved towards the store and opened the door, the sound of wind chimes going off.

"WHO'S THERE!?" came a new voice.

Rebecca jumped, Ethan raised a fist in preparation, and the owner of the voice shot out of the store like a cannonball. He bashed right into Ethan, causing him to skid backwards, but he didn't falter. Instead, he grabbed onto the stranger and used his strength to slam him into the ground.

He turned the stranger onto his back and ignited his fist, holding right over the assailant's face. Ethan saw that it was a small, elderly man with a thin, grey goatee and large, bushy eyebrows.

"Is this how you treat your customers?" Ethan asked.

"I don't have customers." The old man said. "They're all afraid of what I have to offer. What a bunch of sissies."

Ethan extinguished the flames around his released the old man. "Yeah? Well I hear that you have something I need. I'm willing to take the risk.

The old man's expression was blank for a moment, but morphed into a look of cocky confidence. "I like you kid. What do you need?"

Ethan helped him back onto his feet, to which the elder led the way. Rebecca had looked at the seen with confusion, unsure of what to make of the situation. She sighed and followed the two in. As she entered, she was surprised to see what it was like on the inside.

Despite the appearance on the outside, it was well kept on the inside, shelves stocked with various items, from books to vials of different potions, each labelled properly so as to not mix anything up. She looked to where Ethan and the shopkeeper were, to find said shopkeeper on the counter, sweeping it with a brush, while Ethan squatted down to look in under the counter, more specifically at the old tomb underneath.

The shopkeeper eyed the boy with mild curiosity. "That what'cha looking for kid?" he asked.

Ethan nodded. Rebecca was slightly confused by this. The old shopkeeper saw her confusion and proceeded to explain.

"That old book is a record of monsters that are said to be either extinct, rare or notoriously difficult to get near due to their vicious nature. The author was said to have been tracked down by one of the creatures from that book before being torn to shreds by said monster." He then shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, seemed like a lot of trouble for a book."

"So how did you find it?" Ethan asked, his eyes becoming cold and stern, much to the surprise of Rebecca.

"A friend of his held on to the book for a while, but he became homeless after something that happened in the human world. She sold the book to me for food money." He suddenly stopped sweeping as his grip suddenly tightened around the broom. "Someone found him dead a couple of weeks later."

Ethan stood up onto his feet and looked at the old man with a calm expression. "How much?"

The old man eyed him with a hint of concern. "You sure boy? Didn't look like anyone who had that book lived for very long." He stated.

Ethan gave the shopkeeper a blade-like smile. "What's life without a little risk?"

A few minutes later, Ethan and Rebecca walked out of the store, with Ethan holding the tomb under one of his arms. Rebecca, surprisingly, was eating a cup of frozen yogurt that the old man threw in for free.

"So… what are you hoping to find in that book?" she asked after swallowing another spoonful of the frozen treat.

"Information on two things." Ethan said. "One, Phoenix's."

At the mention of this, Rebecca's eyes widened. "Phoenix's?" she asked in bewilderment.

Ethan nodded. "Let's just say that I heard something about them and… if I'm ever to confront them, I need to be prepared."

"But wouldn't they already be in the encyclopedia for monsters back in the school library?" Rebecca asked.

"Not the kind I'm looking for." Ethan answered darkly.

Instead of feeling scared by what he had said, which was what normally happened to people who heard him speak like that, she stared at him with concern. Deciding not to push any further into that particular topic, she asked about the other thing he wanted to research.

"Let's just say that there's someone I'm wanting to do a bit of research on... A royal ass." Ethan answered.

This only served to confuse Rebecca, but she let the matter drop. After a couple of minutes of walking, Rebecca abruptly stopped. Ethan had taken a few more steps before he noticed that there was some distance building up between them. He turned to see her standing perfectly still and looking down towards the ground.

Ethan could tell that there was something bothering her all day. He didn't bring it up in case it was a sensitive issue, but now he was losing his patience.

"Alright. Tell me what's up with you."

Rebecca looked up towards Ethan with a startled expression. She then put on a fake smile, trying to hide off her negativity.

"What are you talking about? Everything's fi-"

"It wasn't a question." Ethan stated. His glare wasn't as stern as other times, but it was enough to show that he was serious about wanting to know what was up.

Rebecca tried to think of another excuse, but she could tell that Ethan would have none of it. In the end, she let out a sigh of defeat and walked closer to Ethan. When they were now directly in front of each other, Rebecca spoke again.

"Ethan… there's been something I've been wanting to tell you." He said.

"Keep going." Ethan said.

"… Ethan…" she was hesitant to say what she wanted to say, but she knew that if she didn't say it now, she wouldn't be able to at all. "I think that I've… fallen for-"

"HEEEELP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!"

Rebecca jumped after hearing that, while Ethan tensed and looked where he heard the yelling. Part of him wasn't surprised when he saw that it was coming from the old shopkeeper they were doing business with earlier. What did cause him to raise his brow, however, was that he was being chased by a four students, each one in partial transformations. The one closest to the old man had furry arms, claws and the hind legs of a dog. Two of them had a set of sharpened teeth, like sharks, and fins sticking out of their elbows and backs. The fourth had a large tail which looked like it was made of iron and had the head of a spiked mace at the end of it.

"What are they chasing him!?" Rebecca exclaimed.

"Don't know, don't care, let's just beat them." Ethan answered.

With that, Ethan ignited his fists and charged at the group chasing the old man. The leader must've been wholly focused on the old man, as he didn't see Ethan charging at him with flaming arms. Ethan made a blade-like smile as he struck the leader in the face with a powerful right cross, causing the leader to fly backwards.

He was launched backwards past his followers, all of whom were startled at how strong Ethan was. The leader, however, proved to be more agile than Ethan thought, as he spun mid-air and dashed towards Ethan. Ethan formed the flames into gauntlets and raised a forearm up in defense as the leader swiped a clawed hand at the pyromancer.

The leader was about to strike again when Ethan gave him a quick jab to the nose, causing the opponent to recoil his head back and hold on to nose as it began to quickly bleed out. he looked back at Ethan with an face full of fury.

"How DARE YOU!" he roared.

Ethan shook his head. "If I had a Yen every time I heard that." He said. His face morphed into a look of seriousness. "Now, why were you chasing after that guy?"

The leader lowered his hand, revealing that his nose had healed. "Why do you think? Didn't you see what that guy sells? He's nothing but a freak and needs to be taught a lesson."

"That's rather rude, don't you think?" Ethan commented. He ignited his fists again, only this time allowing the flames to travel to the palm of his hands. "What gives you the right to harass someone just because of what they sell?"

In an instant, the leader of the group vanished, reappearing behind Ethan. He threw a knee into his lower back, which struck and caused Ethan to stumble. Before the assailant could land another hit, Ethan let himself fall onto the ground and shot out a foot into his opponent's leg. Ethan used his strength to add more force behind it.

Unfortunately, the opponent was already gone.

Ethan, guessing what his next move would be, swung his foot around, hoping to hit the hind legged enemy behind him. While, as it turned out he was behind him, the figure vanished again. As of now, this enemy proved to be more annoying than Gin when Ethan first fought him. Ethan got back on his feet and looked around, only to see the leader's lackeys laughing at Ethan. The pyromancer didn't care much, but he really wanted to beat him up already.

"You going to keep running?" Ethan asked.

With that, the figure stopped directly in front of Ethan. He gave him a blade-like smirk as he quickly lowered himself and elbowed him in the stomach, the force of the attack sending Ethan backwards and on his knees.

"ETHAN!" Rebecca cried. She was about to rush over when the lackeys gathered around her.

"We won't hurt you, but we can't let you stop the boss." One of the sharks said.

"Yeah, he's been wanting to beat the crap out of Drake for a while now. He doesn't want anyone to interrupt him." The other said.

At this, Rebecca froze. "What do you mean?"

"True." The mace-tailed grunt said. "He only harassed the shop keeper to attract Drake's attention. He won't last long now."

As they talked, Rebecca simply glared.

"Get out of my way." She said sternly.

At this, the three stooges laughed at her, thinking that she was joking.

"Or what?" the first of them asked.

To respond, the silver tips of her hair glowed, as well as her eyes. As they did, she raised a hand up into the air, forcing the ground underneath them to blow and send them all flying through the air. As they landed, Rebecca held out her fists towards the two shards; she opened her hands, creating a shockwave that sent the two sharks flying into a nearby wall.

The third had landed on his feet and glared at the girl. His appearance slowly began to change, he skin turning charcoal and scaly, a mane growing around his face, fangs forming in his mouth and claws forming on his fingertips.

Rebecca narrowed her glowing eyes at him. "A Manticore."

" **Forgive me.** " He said and he went down on all fours and pointed his tail at her. As he did, the spikes shot out of his tail, all flying towards Rebecca.

She held out her hand at the spikes, causing the air to ripple. When the spikes hit the ripple, they stopped mid-air and were soon turned into ash. The Manticore was surprised by this, as none could never dodge, never mind block, his spikes like that before. Deciding against his better judgement, he charged towards the girl.

Rebecca responded by swinging her arm like a sword at the Manticore. As she did, another shockwave was sent flying at him It struck him, sliced into him by half an inch, but mainly sent him flying back a few feet onto his back. He was about to get up, only to find the girl stomping her foot onto his newly inflicted wound, causing him to grunt in pain.

"Don't associate yourself with someone like him." She said.

The Manticore was slightly surprised by this. Rebecca's hair and eyes suddenly stopped glowing, followed by her quickly running off to help Ethan. As she ran off, he thought about what she said to him. While it wasn't much, it somehow struck a chord with him. He sat up, feeling the wound already starting to heal, and looked to where the girl was going off to.

"God have mercy on any who face her." He said to himself.

…..

"You don't think that she has a thing for Tsukune?"

After Mizore had seen Rebecca and Ethan go off together, she had crossed paths with the other girls from the club, who were just about to get something to eat. After they came across a nice-looking ice-cream bar, they got a quick bite to eat, where Mizore had reported what she had seen to the group.

Mizore had nodded towards Kurumu. "That's right, Kurumu. I think that we got the wrong idea, and that she's actually wanting to be in a relationship with the human volcano."

Kurumu pondered on this for a few seconds, suddenly clapping her hands together with a joyous face afterward. "Well, as long as she doesn't try to steal my Tsukune, then it's fine with me." She stated.

At this, Mizore formed eyes claws and pointed them at Kurumu, who responded in kind by elongating her fingernails.

"He's not _Your_ Tsukune." Mizore growled.

Two basins suddenly appeared over the two, each one striking a single target.

"No way! He belongs to Me and Moka!" Yukari cried.

Moka was about to say something when, all of a sudden, the ground began shaking, causing the girls to cease their argument and look around frantically.

"What's going on? Are we having an earthquake?" Kurumu asked in a panicked voice.

"If you ask me, it's more of a fire-quake." Mizore stated.

"Ethan?" Moka suggested.

"Hey, guys!"

All turned to see Tsukune running towards them.

"Anyone see where Ethan's gone too?" the boy asked.

"We were wonder that ourselves to be honest." Mizore said.

At this, Yukari grinned, knowing that Ethan would normally get into a fight when there was some kind of threat occurring. "Well, if it's Ethan, we should get a good show of him beating some bad guy senseless." She said confidently.

As soon as she finished speaking, there was a sound of something crashing into the ground behind them. They all turned to see someone struggling to get out of the newly formed crater. As they focused their eyes on who it was, they were all surprised to see who it was.

"ETHAN!?" they all screamed in unison.

Ethan, now batter, bruised and had a bit of his own blood on his shirt, grinned back at them. "Hi Tsukune, girls." He said.

Before any of them could say anything, a bout of maniacal laughter suddenly filled the air. Ethan looked up towards the roof, only to see the person he was fighting staring down at him.

The opponent had now taken on his full monster form, which proved to be more shocking to the girls than Ethan. The opponent's full monster form was, in fact, a Werewolf. This one, unlike Gin, had light, brown fur instead of grey. He was also a lot faster than Gin, which made it difficult to land a hit. Ethan considered raising his body temperature to the point he would burn anything that came in contact with him, but he had little energy to spare as of now.

The wolf looked down at Ethan, a fang-bearing grin forming on his face. " **What's wrong, Drake? Getting tired already? And here I thought you were tougher than this.** "

Ethan smirked at him as flames began to form on his hands again. "I'm just getting warmed up." He said. as he was about to move, however, Moka ran up to him and pulled him back. He looked back at her and asked her to let him go.

Moka shook her head in refusal. "Can't you see that you're in no condition to fight? If you just charge in he'll kill you." He said. her grip on his arm tightened as a lone tear went down the side of her face.

"I don't want any of my friends to get hurt anymore."

That single sentence caused something to spark within Ethan. Seeing the level of pain in her eyes, a pain that she seemed to be holding in for a while, had caused something inside of him to shatter. He wasn't sure what it was, but he felt a strong surge of emotion flow through him. He gritted his teeth and looked back at the wolf, who laughed haughtily at Ethan.

" **Oh, so this pup is still wanting to fight, huh?** " he asked.

Ethan was about to answer when he felt a strong surge of pain flow through his body, causing him to collapse onto his knees. The newspaper club went over to him, now full of worry. As the wolf saw this, he prepared to launch off of the platform, intending to home in on his kill.

However, this was interrupted when something, or someone, socked in in the side of the face and sent him flying. Luckily for him, he found a railing to grab onto and stop the momentum. He looked over to see who it was that hit him.

Gin stood where he was standing a second ago, his full wolf form present for all to see.

" **Still feeling lucky, amateur?** " Gin asked cockily.

The enemy wolf growled at Gin, furious at how he was taken by surprise like that. He was about to move again when he felt something latch onto his wrists. He looked at his wrists and saw that they were being restrained by… water?

" **It appears that our young friend is in need of a lesson in manners!** "

Rodrigo suddenly appeared beside the young werewolf, his body now formed of only water as he glared at the one who attacked his friend. Before the wolf could do anything, Rodrigo shot out a tendril of water struck the wolf hard in the gullet. Gin appeared behind the wold, spinning through the air and brought his foot down on the younger pup like an axe, striking him in the back of his head.

The lighter colored wolf proved to be more resistant than Gin thought, as the pup turned and struck Gin hard in the jaw, disorienting him. Rodrigo tried to attack with another tendril, but the enemy wolf used his speed to dodge, causing Rodrigo to hit Gin with full force instead, knocking the second year student out cold.

Rodrigo unintentionally reverted to human form from his shock at having accidentally "Oh dear. Gin, I am so very sorry!" Rodrigo tried to tell him, despite the fact that Gin was now unconscious.

Taking his chance, the wolf appeared behind Rodrigo and hit him across the back of his head, knocking the theater lover out cold.

" **What a nuisance.** "

"GIN! RODRIGO!" Yukari cried.

Her cries alerted the wolf, who now had his eyes back on Ethan. The pyrokinetic was breathing heavily, but he didn't seem to be in as much pain as last time. The wolf grinned sinisterly as he prepared on his canine face.

Moka looked at the wolf and saw where he was looking. Before she could say anything, he was already zooming towards Ethan.

Time had seemed to slow as the enemy wolf was getting closer towards Ethan. Moka tried desperately to reach out, hoping that she would reach him in time. Deep down… she knew that she couldn't make it. But she wasn't sure of what else to do.

"Damn..." Ethan said to himself.

The wolf crashed into the ground, creating a larger crater in the ground and the force blew the club members off of their feet. Kurumu unleashed her wings and used them to make a controlled landing, Yukari summoned a cushion to land on as well as one each for Mizore, Tsukune and Moka to land on. They all looked to where Ethan was standing, paralyzed with fear, fear of losing their friend.

" **That's… that's not possible!** " the wolf cried.

That statement caused confusion for them all at first… that is until they saw that there was no sign of Ethan in the crater. No one could understand what had happened.

Ethan suddenly appeared behind the wolf, a look as sadistic and chilling one would expect from the devil himself plastered on his face.

"Well, well, well… look who got cocky." He said with a spine-chilling tone.

The club members looked in both awe and fear at their friend. They could sense it… his power had suddenly recovered, increased even. None were sure how it could've been possible.

However, Yukari gasped as a possibility suddenly entered her mind.

"His aura... it was a sign." She whispered.

Moka heard her, to which she looked at her friend with a look of confusion. "What do you mean?"

Yukari's eyes widened as the thought continued to circle through her mind. "Ethan's powers… they're evolving."

Ethan continued to look at the pup with this same look, causing the pup to shiver slightly. Ethan flexed his fingers and let out a small, dark chuckle.

"Time to put this thing to the test." He said.

Ethan dashed forward with great speed, not having to rely on his unnatural strength this time. It was as simple as taking a step forward, allowing his body to move at a speed as great as his strength. Using the momentum, he kneed his opponent to knee him in the nose, followed by Ethan spinning in a forward direction, grabbing the wolf by the head and flipped him over. He thrusted the wolf into the ground, but he didn't use as much force to create a crater. Instead, he pulled the wolf by his legs, switching back to his strength to throw the wolf in a random direction. As the wolf flew, Ethan switched back to his newfound speed and zipped past the wolf, only to stop in front of the enemy as he was flying by. Ethan used his strength again to punch him hard in the chest, shattering a couple of ribs in the process. Ethan allowed the opponent to fall to the ground. The pyromancer looked down at his opponent with a look of grim satisfaction.

The pup looked up at Ethan with angry eyes. " **You… you can't beat me. I am the strongest in the academy.** " He said.

"You want to know something?" Ethan asked. "You're nothing but a cunt driven by a thirst for power… and it was your downfall."

The wolf lept back into action, this time taking wild swings at Ethan with his speed. Ethan however, with his own heightened speed was able to perceive them more slowly, allowing him the opportunity to dodge the attacks more easily. He allowed the pup a couple more attacks before deciding to end it.

Ethan clicked his fingers and summoned a flame grenade, which he threw at the wolf and flipped back. In his rage, the wolf slashed the grenade, causing it to explode and coat the wolf in the fire. When it had faded, the wolf was revealed to have returned to his human form.

Ethan smiled at his unconscious form, debating whether or not he should… 'finish' the job. However he decided against it. He looked over to his friend, who all wore looks of pure awe on their faces.

Ethan looked at them with confusion. "Oh, come on. What now!?"

…..

Well, that was a bit more eventful than I thought it would be."

After the eventful day, the group had decided to call it a day and head back to the academy. When they returned, they were all gathered in the canteen, where they had been talking about what they had been up to before the were-pup and his lackeys decided to pick a fight.

"I can't believe that there were that many stores!" Yukari said.

"Makes sense, you would need to have as many things as possible available to keep the students entertained." Mizore said.

"Didn't help me." Ethan said.

At this, all turned towards him. Tsukune had been the first to speak.

"Hey, Ethan… why would those guys want to fight you? You didn't do anything to them, did you?" he asked.

Ethan shook his head. "Wasn't sure what that was all about at the time, but I went to talk to the chairman about it."

"What did he say?" Kurumu asked.

Ethan leaned back and let his head relax as he spoke. "Apparently, the pup was a friend of the class rep. Seems like lizard-boy has disappeared and no one knows where he went to. So the pup blamed me and tried to get revenge."

Everyone was on alert after hearing this.

"He disappeared? But we all heard that he went home." Moka said.

"Turns out the chairman made that up as well. He didn't think it was a good idea to start a panic in the school." Ethan explained.

At this, they all looked much for afraid. Gin looked like he was about to wet himself even. However, they were broken out of their panicked mind-frames when Ethan clicked his fingers, summoning a small flame on his thumb.

"What's with the worry? If there is something going on, we can take care of it. That's what we do these days, remember?"

Tsukune smiled at Ethan, happy to see that he's taking a more positive outlook on the situation. "Well, you and Moka seem to be doing a better than the rest of us in that department. You even got a new power out of it."

In response, Ethan vanished and appeared right behind Tsukune, tapping him on the shoulder and causing Tsukune to jump high into the air from fright. Everyone couldn't help but laugh at the antics of the two.

"I'm going to have a lot of fun with this." Ethan said. With that, he started making his way out of the canteen.

"Hey, where are you going?" Gin asked.

Ethan looked back shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know. Think I'll head back to my room. Talk to you guys later." He said. he was about to continue when he remembered something. He looked back at Rebecca. "Hey, Rebecca."

"Hm?" the girl in question asked.

"Weren't you trying to tell me something earlier?" he asked.

"… It can wait, don't worry." She responded hesitantly.

Ethan was slightly annoyed by this, but he opted to let the matter drop for now. he wasn't in the mood for interrogating anyone. As he left, All the remaining people looked over at Rebecca, all with inquisitive expressions.

"Okay girl. Spill the beans. What's this thing you're wanting to tell Ethan?" Kurumu asked.

Rebecca's face was starting to turn red, but Tsukune gave her a reassuring nod, telling her that she can trust them. As such, she took in a deep breath and said-

"I think… I'm in love with Ethan."

Tsukune looked down at his watch and inwardly counted " _Three… two… one…_ "

"WHAAAAAAT!" all except for Tsukune and Yukari cried.

" _Nailed it._ " Tsukune thought happily to himself.

…..

Ethan had returned to his room and was now resting on his bed. He sat still for a few moments, pondering on how he could've gotten super speed. Granted, he unlocked his strength when he fought against Saizou, and now he went head to head with a werewolf, go speed was necessary.

"Maybe I can unlock these powers depending on who I fight." He said to himself. As he did, a sinister smile came across his face. "Maybe inner Moka can help me out with that."

Deciding to put the idea behind him for now, he reach into a bag and pulled out the tomb he got from the old shop. He heard that, while the shop keeper was a little shaken, he would be alright and the business would continue to run. It was just as well, as Ethan had gained an interest in seeing what else they had to offer.

He opened the old text and flicked through the pages. While he knew he could find more information on Phoenixs here, he had something else on his mind instead. He suddenly stopped flicking when a familiar image caught his eye. This image was of a boy around his age wearing a distinct hood and carried a scythe. He may have looked different in this picture, but Ethan recognised him instantly, causing him to form another blade-like smile on his face.

At the same time, the hooded figure was sitting on a tree outside Ethan's room, looking in through a window, now more than interested to see what will happen to this boy now that he unlocked a new weapon in his arsenal.

Either way, both were thinking the same thing.

"This is getting interesting." They both said simultaneously.

 **And with that, I'm going to wrap it up here. Let me tell you, I actually had a fair bit of fun writing this chapter. To be honest, I was originally planning on having super speed as Ethan's first power, but I decided against it, thinking that the strength would be a better choice for his character.**

 **Also, in case anyone asks, because I was asked about this before, since Ethan's not invincible, he's going to have a fair number of scruffs that he will be outmatched in. However, that doesn't mean he'll put up more of a fight.**

 **Okay, I'll finish speaking here. If anyone has anything they want to share about the story, PLEASE don't be afraid to speak your mind. Did you think this was good? Bad? Mediocre? Feel free to speak your mind.**

 **Right then, talk to you all later and I hope you all have a nice day.**


	13. Trip to the Human World

**Hi, how are things with you all? Hope you're feeling grand. We've got ourselves another chapter for this tale. So far, we've seen the newspaper club face a fair number of bewildering challenges, and none of them very pleasant either. However, as we move back into the cannon, we will see Ethan will start going against one of his most difficult challenges as of yet. The big question, I reckon, will he be able to handle it?**

 **Let's find out.**

"So… how do you feel about this?" Tsukune asked.

"I don't know. I kind of got used to this world already." Ethan said. He looked over at his friend, who looked like he was about to explode with joy. "And yourself?"

"I couldn't be happier. I mean, I don't mind this school anymore, but… it'll be great to go home, even if it's only for a little while." Tsukune admitted.

Ethan shook his head at how emotional his friend was getting. Personally, he could say with certainty that he was getting more emotional than his dad… which would be quite the feat, to say the least. This all started after Miss Nekonome told the whole newspaper club that she had organised a trip to the human world.

Ethan had been indifferent to the news, Tsukune was over the moon at the chance to be in his world again, but the girls were decidedly less enthusiastic at the idea. Kurumu, Mizore and Yukari had never been to the human world before, so they were less than comfortable with the idea. While worried about them all, Tsukune couldn't help but be mostly worried for Moka.

Her time in the Human world was nearly debilitating for her. He was afraid that this could only cause Moka to be nothing but afraid when they all went there. But, thankfully, she said that she was willing to do it. So long as he was by her side the whole time, she could make it through.

Since then, they had all taken the liberty of getting ready for the summer or, more specifically, the beach. Now that the time had come, the ordinary human and the not-so-ordinary human were staring out into the crimson sea.

Tsukune was wearing a black t-shirt under a short-sleeved jacket, while wearing a pair of jeans and sneakers and had a backpack hanging off of his shoulder. Ethan, on the other hand, was wearing a black, long sleeved shirt underneath a white t-shirt, blue long shorts, sandals and a pair of sunglasses on his head. He also had the guitar ca that he kept the staff in, just in case he needed it.

"So, when we get to the beach, what's the first thing you're going to do?" Ethan asked.

"I say I'm going to lay around in the sand a bit." Tsukune answered. He raised his fists up to his own face and wore a look of determination on his face. "I want to make this the best vacation, not just for me, but for the girls. It's the perfect opportunity to show them that there's nothing to fear in the human world."

"… Sure." Ethan said. he debated in his mind quickly as to whether or not to point out the MANY dangers of the human world, but seeing how determined he was, the pyromancer decided to but that on hold. As he looked at Tsukune a thought occurred to him.

"Hey, Tsukune?"

With his fists still raised, Tsukune turned his head towards Ethan. "Yeah?"

With that, Ethan used his speed to rush underneath Tsukune, push his arms up by the elbows and caused Tsukune to hit himself. He went back to his normal position and watched his friend fall onto the ground in a heap, causing Ethan to laugh. Tsukune, on the other hand, was ticked off.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" he asked angrily.

"Oh, I knew I was going to have some fun with these powers." Ethan said to himself.

Tsukune sat up cross-legged and folded his arms, now pouting. He was like this for a few seconds before a thought came to him. "Do you think that you can unlock some more powers? Or is that it?" he asked.

Tsukune saw Ethan looking at him with a look of curiosity. "Why?" Ethan asked. "Thinking about getting some yourself?"

Tsukune shook his head. "Nah, I'm happy the way I am. I'm just thinking… it would be great if we could figure out what you are and how you got these powers. To be honest, I'm getting a little annoyed from being in the dark like this." Tsukune admitted.

"You and me both." Ethan said. He stayed silent for a moment before speaking again. "Actually… I think I know someone who can help me out with that?"

This caused Tsukune to look up at Ethan with great surprise written on his face. "You do? Who?"

Ethan knelt down and whacked Tsukune across the back of his head, thankfully he didn't use his strength and he only tapped him lightly. "Well, aren't you a nosy little fella?"

Tsukune laughed a bit and rubbed the back of his head. He got back onto his feet and looked towards the academy.

"I'm going to check on the girls. I'll be back in a bit." Tsukune said.

"Fine with me. See you in a bit." Ethan replied.

As Tsukune walked off, Ethan's calm expression turned sterner as his eyes moved towards the ocean. He sat down cross-legged and rested his hands on his knees. He wouln't admit it to Tsukune right off the bat, but he wasn't overly fond of returning to the human world.

The main reason being that, since he came to the academy, it acted as a distraction from the emptiness that he felt on the inside. An emptiness that he found could be filled by nothing. The constant 'life or death scenarios he went through certainly did well in taking his mind off of it.

However, he knew that he couldn't just avoid the strongest reminder of his past. Running away from your problem never solves the problem in the end, it only makes it worse. As such, he was willing to go out there.

He waited for a few more minutes, wondering where Tsukune could've gone off to find the girls. " _Maybe the girls knocked Tsukune out cold again._ " He thought with a chuckle. His smile remained as he looked behind him. "You going to stay hidden there forever?"

To respond to the question, the air shimmered ten feet away from Ethan. When it finished, the hooded figure appeared. However, instead of mouthing off as he usually did to annoy Ethan, he stayed silent.

"Nothing to share?" Ethan asked.

The figure didn't respond. Instead, he walked over beside Ethan and sat down beside him. The pyromancer had no objections to this, or at least he didn't voice any opinions on the matter. They both sat in silence for a few moments before the hooded figure spoke.

"I heard you messed up that new shopping center that they opened up for the academy." He said.

Ethan shrugged. "Tends to happen when people try to tear my head off."

With that. They remained silent for s few more seconds. The figure turned his hidden face towards Ethan and smirked. "So… you know who I am now?"

Ethan turned his head towards the figure. The pyromancer turned his head towards the figure, but he still couldn't see the face underneath. It irked Ethan slightly, but he didn't let it show. "What makes you think that?"

"I saw you studying an old book. I also happened to see a picture of one of my ancestors in there as well."

At this, Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Ancestor?"

The figure nodded. "Yep. The darkest, vilest of our kind. All that my family ever knew of him was his title. 'The Bloodletter'. The rest of my family back then weren't too fond of his methods." The figure laid his back on his ground and rested his head in his hands. "The Shinigami aren't as dark as you think."

Ethan couldn't help but smirk at the fact that he had gotten it right.

"So… if that's the case, then why did you kill the class rep?" Ethan asked.

"Well… I guess I would be counted as an exception as well." He admitted. "However, _that_ kill was because that it was the only option. Nothing else would've worked, and believe me, I've been in enough scenarios to know whether or not it's the best option." The figure shot a hand up, extending his index finger. "Granted, I've never hurt an innocent before, man or monster ."

Ethan slightly shook his head. "And yet, I still think you're the biggest asshole in _any_ world you would go to."

The figure said nothing. Instead, he stood up and stared out into the ocean. "Well, in any case. Hope you have a nice trip. Maybe I'll see you there."

"Oh, please don't tell me." Ethan said straight after.

"I've got a case to investigate. An old friend calling in a favor, so to speak." The figure explained. He turned and walked off. Ethan waited a few more seconds before he turned around, thankful to see that the figure was out of sight.

"HEY, ETHAN!"

The pyromancer looked to his side and saw Tsukune walking over to him, the girls and Miss Nekonome right beside him.

"Glad to see you made it, you had me bored waiting." Ethan called out to them.

"Don't you know it's rude to say that to a lady?" Kurumu asked.

Ethan held in a chuckle, knowing that it would only irritate her. He scanned the crowd and saw that they were wearing summer attire. He couldn't help but notice the sundress that Moka was wearing. IT suited her down to the ground. Kurumu and Yukari's attire were nice as well, but Moka somehow managed to pull it off. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea for Mizore to be staying in that hoodie in the warm weather.

"Looks like we're all set." Ethan said. However, his eyebrows were raised when he saw something was amiss. "Where's Gin?"

"That pervert messed up in his exams and has to take make-up classes. Serves him right." Kurumu said with a proud face.

"Don't get all high and mighty, mount tit-more." Yukari pointed out. "You did just as badly as him. I even helped you study!"

Before anyone could say anything else, the bus appeared from the tunnel and parked right in front of them. The door opened, allowing Kurumu to lift Yukari up off her feet and throw her in with as much force as she could into the bus. After the Succubus hopped right in, the rest of the crew stepped on board. As he passed him, Ethan gave the bus driver a grim smile and a nod, to which the driver responded in kind. They all took their seats and allowed the driver to turn and drive through the tunnel.

….

About five minutes after they had gone through the tunnel, they emerged through the other side. Tsukune was looking out through the windows, practically tearing over the fact that he was finally home. The girls, however, seemed less comfortable with being in this foreign land, even Kurumu was a lot more quiet than usual.

Ethan, on the other hand, didn't give a crack of a rat's backside. He thought that he would feel something after returning to the realm of his kind, but instead… there was nothing. Ethan simply sighed as he stared out the window.

" _Talk about Anti-climactic."_ He thought.

"Finally, I'm home," Tsukune cried.

This caused Moka to gasp with fright while Ethan shot up from his seat and slammed his fist on top of Tsukune's head like a sledge hammer, knocking him out cold.

"TSUKUNE!" Kurumu cried as she raced over to him and cradled him in her arms like a new-born. "Oh, don't worry, Tsukune. I'll keep you save from the big, bad man." She then looked over towards Ethan with a heated glare. "WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

"And why did you knock Tsukune out after saying that he 'was home'?" Mizore asked.

Ethan gritted his teeth, realizing his mistake. He eyed Moka for a split second, seeing that she was trying to come up with an explanation. He sighed and answered "The thing is… Tsukune and I were raised in the human world."

That statement alone caused Kurumu, Yukari and Mizore (the latter accidently letting her lollipop fall out of her mouth) fall into a brief moment of silence. After a few seconds, Ethan was about to say something, but was interrupted when said girls rushed up to him, looks of awe and curiosity in their eyes.

"YOU GUYS WERE RAISED IN THE HUMAN WORLD!?" Kurumu cried.

"OH MY GOD, THAT'S AMAZING!" Yukari cried

"Nice." Mizore said in her usual tone, but she was just as amazed.

Ethan had to blink a few times to make sure that he was actually seeing this. Tsukune and Moka were also shocked to see that they were taking it so well.

"You're… not upset?"

Yukari spoke first. "Of course not. We think it's amazing. There aren't many monsters being raised in the human world these days."

"You guys can help us out along the way." Mizore commented.

Ethan smirked. "Who said we wouldn't?"

…..

Eventually, the bus came to a stop outside a nearby bus stop in the town, to which the group quickly got off. Tsukune took in a deep breath of fresh air, Ethan stretched his muscles, Miss Nekonome looked around excitedly, but the girls still looked decidedly nervous. Tsukune comforted them telling them that all they needed to do was take it one step at a time.

" _Hope they'll be okay._ " Ethan thought.

After a little bit of walking through the town, the girls had garnered a lot of attention. Since they were from the monster world. They had this 'other Worldly charm' that was drawing them all in, however it was the girls 'assets' that was getting the spectators views most of the time. At this, Ethan gritted his teeth and glared, half tempted to tear them limb from limb.

"Fecking perverts." He muttered under his breath.

Suddenly, one of the members of the crowd broke free from the masses and approached. Kurumu. Straightening the collar of his shirt, he went up to Kurumu.

"Hey, babe. How about spending a little alone time with yours truly?" he asked with a sickening leer.

Kurumu turned away with her nose sticking up in the air. "No thanks. I'm not into cunts like you." She stated.

Angered, the man reached out to grab her wrist. Instead, he was met with her foot in his face, sending him flying back. One of the benefits of being a monster was the enhanced physical strength they had compared to humans, which certainly helped to send him flying into a can of garbage cans.

"And THAT'S how it's done!" Ethan exclaimed, giving Kurumu a round of applause.

….

After that little fiasco, the group made their way to a nearby beach. When they arrived, they found some nearby changing rooms to get changed into their swim suits. When they emerged, Tsukune actually felt the air get sucked under his body. Moka was now wearing a white, one piece swim suit that was hugging her curves, Kurumu wore a black bikini that only just managed to coceal and hold her breasts, Mizore wore a striped, purple and yellow bikini while Yukari wore a pink sun dress.

No doubt about it, these girls were pulling out all the stops to try and get Tsukune attention. The question, however, is if Tsukune could handle it all or not.

"O-Okay, I guess we're all ready for the beach." Tsukune said while trying to fight back a blush.

The girls smiled, knowing that they had mamaged to attract his attention. Yukari, however, snapped out of it when she noticed something.

"Huh? Why aren't you getting your swimsuit on, Ethan?" she asked.

"I'll join you guys later. Just something I want to check out while I'm here." He said. he turned around and waved at them with the back of his hand. "Later. Try not to kill yourselves."

The group was slightly disappointed, as they all wanted to have fun at the beach as a whole group. However, at this stage, they knew better than to try to convince him to do anything outside his current interest. As such, they left him at it and went to the beach. Fortunately, there was a volley ball court. As such, they wasted no time in putting it to good use.

(five minutes later)

"MINE!" Kurumu roared as she went for the ball.

She spiked the ball as hard as she could. However, Mizore proved to be quite agile, as she just managed to intercept the ball and bounce it back into the air. It would landed on her side still if Tsukune hadn't jumped and bounced it back to Kurumu's side. Kurumu wasn't fast enough this time and missed the ball, watching it hit the sand with a soft bounce.

Tsukune and Mizore high fived each other for their victory in this round.

"Nice one Mizore." Tsukune said.

"Same to you." Mizore said.

Kurumu was less than pleased with the outcome, hoping to make herself look superior to Mizore. However, Yukari was the most disappointed out the lot.

"It's not fair. Every time I go for the ball, you're always getting in the way." Yukari complained while pouting.

Kurumu gave her a cocky grin. "Well, since size isn't one of your strengths, how can you hope to play properly?"

This caused Yukari to glare at her. She took off her hat and pulled out her wand. She would've summoned a basin and smashed Kurumu over the head, but before she could Tsukune saw what was about to happen and intervened, pushing the wand just as she was about to cast the spell.

"NO. Yukari, you can't use magic here." he said. He looked behind him to see if anyone noticed. Thankfully, no one noticed, allowing himself a sigh of relief.

Yukari blushed and put the wand back in the hat, apologising for being so careless. This only caused Kurumu to inwardly laugh at Kurumu.

Seeing how much she was struggling, Tsukune thought of an idea. "Alright, let's switch partners."

"Aww." Mizore said.

"YES!" Kurumu yelled.

Tsukune looked at Tukari and pointed to the side that he was on. "Let's go, Yukari."

This caused Kurumu to look at Tsukune with shock and horror, thinking that her 'Destined One' betrayed her. Mizore, however, managed to get a good laugh, curtsy of Kurumu's expression. When the new team was formed, they got back to playing instantly. Kurumu had first serve, throwing the ball to Tsukune. He bounced it back to her side, to which Mizore managed to hit the ball over the net.

The ball was headed straight for Yukair. She was nervous at first, afraid that she might mess it up. However, Tsukune got to her, grabbed her by the sides and lifted her up higher into the air. Yukari was surprised at first, but after seeing the ball fly towards her, she took the opportunity and spiked the ball as hard as she could, striking th ground right next to Mizore's feet.

"Alright! That was amazing!" Tsukune said.

"I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" Yukari cried.

Mizore smiled at the two, happy to see Tsukune being so caring. "Great job."

Even Kurumu wasn't immune to the adorable sight. "Oh, he's so nice."

Some few metes away, Moka was lying under the shade, reading a book that she brought along with her. It was a recently written adaptation of the tale 'Romeo and Juliet' that she found in Mononoke Arcade. While she had been engrossed in the book, her attention was drawn to the sound of Yukari's screams of excitement. She also saw Tsukune giving her loads of encouragement and kind words, instantly melting Moka's heart.

"he's a lot better with children than I thought." She said under her breath.

She looked at the scene for a moment longer before she went back to her book. However, as her eyes met the pages, she felt a sudden chill do down her spine. She raised her head and looked around, her eye catching a figure that stood out among the crowd.

He wore a black, opened hoodie that covered his face, digital camo pants and sneakers. As he walked, many of the people on the beach looked at him with odd stares, but he seemed oblivious to them as he walked with a small grin on his face.

Moka could tell that there was something unusual about this individual, but she couldn't tell if he one of malice or good nature. This irked her, as she usually had a good instinct for telling this kind of thing. Now seemingly interested in what the figure was, she tried to think of a way to draw his attention. She looked around her, hoping to find some way of drawing his attention.

"Ahem."

Her head perked up. She slowly turned her head towards the sound of the cough, only to see the figure, squatted in front of her and looking at her square in the eye. They stayed silent for a moment, leaving Moka unsure of what to do next. However, the figure let out a small laugh and sat on the ground, crossing his legs.

"Sorry. I'm told that I can be a little intimidating off the bat." He said.

"Uh… that's fine." She said, still a little confused by his behavior. In a few seconds, however, her curiosity overtook her and she asked "Hi, um… might I ask what you're name is?"

The figure grinned and lowered his hood, revealing him to be a boy around their age, a head of spiky, grey hair that was sticking out at shoulder length and was grey around the tips. He had pale skin and yellow eyes. Despite the intimidating appearance, he seemed rather calm and relaxed. Likable even. This caused Moka's brow to raise and tilt her head to one side.

"The name's Mathias." He said. he held out a hand for her to shake. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

…..

While the rest of the group had been doing their own thing, Ethan had taken the liberty of exploring more of the area that they were in. One of the many things he had grown to hate during his time is surprises, so he liked to know more about where they were exactly, in case there was a hidden threat.

His exploration had brought him to a rather surprising place. Before him was a field of sun flowers, all gently swaying side to side in the breeze. With the sun shining as much as it possibly could today, it helped to further enhance the visual quality of the field.

"Well, this was unexpected." He said to himself.

After considering the idea for a moment, he decided to go into the field to see what it was like.

"Hey, WAIT! STOP!" came a voice from behind him.

Ethan swiftly turned around and had clenched his fists, the sudden surprise from the yelling engaging his fighting instincts. Fortunately, he calmed after seeing that it was just a young couple standing there. He relaxed his hands and breathed an unnoticeable sigh of relief.

"Touya!" the girl said before smacking him in the back of the head. "You can't just yell at people like that!" the woman yelled.

The man rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment. "Right. Sorry, Yukki." The man said.

"It's not me you should be apologizing to." She said while pointing towards Ethan.

To respond, Ethan held up a hand to stop them. "No need. You were just trying to warn me." He said. "But I would like to know what could be so bad that you had to warn me not to in there."

"You mean you haven't heard about the legend of 'The Witches Hill'?" the man asked.

"The what now?" Ethan asked.

"They say that this hill once belonged to a group of witches that practiced magic in peace and stayed away from humans. However, after some modern companies tried to expand their development here, the witches fought back to defend their home. Since then, anyone who entered the hill have never come out. Some believed that there are monsters in the field that eat people up the moment step foot in there." The woman explained.

Ethan remained silent as she told the story. At the end, he slowly nodded his head and grinned at the couple. "Thanks for the fairy tale. But if it makes you feel any better, I'll stay away for now."

The man and woman grinned and thanks him for understanding. With that, they made their way to their own destination. Ethan stayed behind and watched them go. When he was sure that they were gone, he looked back at the field with a grim, but inquisitive look. He clicked his fingers and summoned a small flame. Sticking his hand out from where he was standing, he waited for some kind of reaction.

He was met with the sound of a low, sinister hissing noise from beneath the innocent looking flowers.

Ethan extinguished the flame and formed a blade-like smile on his face. "Well… this trip will be a lot more fun than I thought." He said. He turned around and made his way back towards the beach, hoping he would find the rest of the club there if they hadn't already moved.

…

"And that's why I'm more of an 'Othello' fan, myself." Mathias said to Moka.

After the two had gotten talking, the figure known as 'Mathias' had proven himself none threatening to Moka. He had admitted right off the bat that he was a monster, but he had chosen to take his education outside of school. He felt that it was best, considering the type of creature he was.

Moka had tilted her head at this. "What kind of Ayashi are you?" she asked.

Mathias raised an eyebrow. "Ayashi?" he asked back.

"It's the term for monster here." She explained. "You didn't know?"

"I'm from Wales. While I mean no ill will by saying this, there aren't many people there racing to learn Japanese." He said.

Moka smiled. "That's fair. I never really thought of learning Welsh myself."

"Take my advice. Don't. While I do respect the language, you'll do your head in sixty seconds into your first lesson." He pointed out while making a face as if he was reliving an unpleasant experience. This caused Moka to laugh involuntarily. However her smile faded as she asked her next question.

"Why did you want to talk to me?" she asked.

"Two reasons that started off as one. The first and original, simply, because I saw you looking at me earlier and was curious as to what it was that had you eyeing me." He said.

This caused Moka to blush a little, having been caught so easily.

"My second reason, after I learned that you're a monster, is to warn you to be careful over the next couple of days."

This caused Moka to look at him with a look of confusion. "Why would I need to be careful?"

"Well, you see… Ah, hello, you a friend of hers?"

Moka's eyes widened as she turned to see a stunned Ethan. She didn't really notice that Ethan was shocked, instead jumping onto Ethan and trying to crush him in a bear hug.

"YAAAY! Ethan's back!" she said.

Mathias couldn't hold back a grin as Ethan's face slowly morphed into a look of seething hatred. When Moka released him, his face went back to looking calm and peaceful. Putting on a convincing smile, he held out his hand for Mathias to shake, who gladly took it. Unknown to Moka, both were using their respective strengths to try and crush each other's hands.

"Nice you meet you… Ethan was it? The name's Mathias."

"Likewise. Always good to meet new people."

They both released their grips on each other and took a step back from each other. Mathias clapped his hands together and rubbed them briskly before saying "Right. It was great meeting you both. Sadly, I need to get going."

Moka seemed a little sad that her new friend was leaving so soon. Noticing this, Mathias gave her a thumbs up. "Don't worry. I reckon we might see each other before you have to leave."

This helped increase Moka's positive mood. With that, he turned and walked away from the two. Moka turned towards Ethan.

"So, how was your walk?" she asked.

"Hm?" Ethan muttered, only half paying attention to Moka. "Oh, um… it yielded more results than I was expecting."

"What? What results?" Moka asked, now confused.

Instead of answering her directly, Ethan looked over to the rest of the group and whistled in their direction. This caused Kurumu to receive a spike to the head via Yukari, which had the witch laughing out loud. After a brief chuckle from Tsukune and Mizore, and a minor grumble from Kurumu, they made their way over towards Ethan. They noticed that he was a little more tense than before.

"Is something wrong, Ethan?" Kurumu asked while nursing her forehead.

Ethan nodded in response. "We seem to have a situation." He said before pointing up towards the top of a cliff, where the field of flowers rested. "That field up there is home to monsters that've been snacking on humans like sweets. The locals have been saying a witch is responsible, and if so-"

"Well, well, well." Kurumu interrupted, looking at Yukari. "So you're kind likes to kidnap and kill humans, huh? Well, here was me thinking that you guys had more honour than that."

"What that supposed to mean?" Yukari asked.

"I mean that-" before Kurumu could say anymore, Ethan had taken out his staff and held it up to her throat. The air seemed to leave her lungs as fear took her over. Ethan's eyes met her own, and she saw his glare practically burrowing into her soul. The last time Ethan looked at her like this he was about to put her down with the very same staff.

"Choose your next words carefully… Kurumu." He said, his voice taking a cool, icy tone that put Mizore up against some stiff competition.

"I… uh…"

"You become good friends with Yukari and then suddenly turn on her because of some rumors. Furthermore, you seem to think that you can say some pretty hurtful things about her race despite the unfair rumors that have basically labelled your kind as 'Black Widows'." He said. He lowered his staff, but continued to glare at her.

"I… I'm sorry. I didn't think-"

"No." he stated. "You didn't think. And it's not me that you should be apologizing to."

There was a tense silence followed by this, with Tsukune, Mizore and Moka unsure about what to do. In the end, however, Ethan sighed and put the staff away.

"Lastly. I said that the 'rumors' said that witches were responsible. I'm going to use my brain and get the whole truth before making any accusations. And whether or not witches are responsible…" he quickly looked at Yukari, who had a look of hurt and worry on her face, afraid that someone form her race was causing all these problems, "Then we will hear the culprit out. We are getting the full story, like it or not."

Yukari looked up at Ethan, smiling at the fact that he's wanting to give the culprit a fair chance to explain themselves. She also felt great gratitude towards him for defending her race. Ethan rubbed this temples, as this whole argument had given him a headache, and sighed.

"Hey, how about we find a place to set up camp?" Tsukune suggested, hoping to change the subject.

"Best idea I've heard all day." Ethan replied instantly.

"Let's get going." Moka said.

With that, the group made their way off the beach, planning to find a place to rest for the night. Unknown to any of them, a crow was perched on top of the cliff, staring down and observing all their actions. It let out a loud squawk before it flew away.

….

After having decided to set up camp on the beach, as there was no other place to place their tents, they got to work on setting up the tents and preparing food for the night. While Tsukune was carrying buckets of water over to Moka, who was boiling some vegetables, he saw Miss Nekonome sneaking off.

"Uh, Miss Nekonome? Where are you going?" he asked.

The feline teacher 'eeped' as she was discovered. She looked back towards Tsukune with a nervous expression. "Uh, well, I'm just planning to get some fish." She said.

This confused Tsukune a little. "But we already brought tons of fish. Ethan nearly passed out from the smell."

"Oh, I know, but fish from the human world is _way_ better. Its by far the most delicious treat in the world."

Tsukune grinned as he made a sudden realisation. "Miss Nekonome. Did you organize this trip just so that you can eat fish?"

At this, the feline teacher froze, realising that she had been found out. "I, uh, well, you see… I'm off." She said as she dashed off.

"Looks like were on our own." Moka said.

"I'm pretty sure we were on our own form the start." Mizore stated.

He group nodded in agreement. As they got back to cooking, Yukari asked each member of the group if they wanted her to help out with anything. However, each person said that they had it handled, and they didn't think it would be okay for her to do any work.

This slightly annoyed Yukari. Just because she was a kid, it didn't mean that she couldn't help out in any way.

"Hey, Yukari!" Ethan called out.

Yukari looked towards the pyromancer, who was making some adjustments to the tents.

"Mind helping me out? I need someone to hammer the nails in. I'll hold the strings down." He continued.

At this, Yukari beamed, at last feeling like she could help out somehow. She rushed over and kneeled down beside Ethan. He gave her the hammer and told her to hit down on the nail as hard as she could. Following his instructions, she hit the nails as hard as she could, helping to secure the tents.

"Perfect. Thanks, Yukari." Ethan said.

Tsukune and Moka had watched Ethan and Yukari at work. They couldn't help but smile at how happy Yukari was now. They could tell that she was wanting to help somehow, and felt a little guilty that they left her out. It faded when Ethan eyed them and shook his head, silently telling them not to worry.

When Yukari went off, Ethan got onto his feet and walked to the centre of the camp, where Mizore had, ironically, set up the fire for the food. Ethan sat in front of it and stared, losing himself to his thoughts. As he did, thought back to Mathias. He couldn't believe that he had to appear _here_ of all places.

" _Did he know about the situation with the hill as well? Is this the thing he said that he was investigating?"_

"Ethan?"

The fire user lifted his gaze from the fire and looked around for a moment, his eyes meeting a concerned looking Moka.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Ethan stated silent for a moment, trying to think of a good answer. In the end, he said. "Moka, I need you to be wary of that Mathias guy."

This surprised Moka. "Really? Why? He's a nice guy."

"I'm sure that there's more going on with him than he's letting on." Ethan said back. "Think about it. Another monster appears at the same time we're here, who knows that you're one as well. Furthermore, it's in a place where there's a man-eating field on the rise. Don't you find that a little suspicious?"

Moka was silent for a moment as she put on a thinking face and pose as she pondered on what Ethan said. "Um… I guess you have a point." She admitted. She looked back at Ethan. "But what if he's a nice guy after all?"

"In that case, then you can say you told me so." Ethan answered back. "But for now, just be wary."

Moka nodded. She didn't like it, but given that Ethan's instincts were usually right, she didn't question him anymore. Instead, when she heard Tsukune that the food was ready, she asked him if he wanted something to eat. A smile formed on his face soon after hearing that.

"Sure. Let's eat."

….

An hour after having eaten, the group decided to turn in for the night. They were a little concerned when Miss Nekonome didn't return, but soon dismissed it as a night-long hunt for fish. After that, the group slept rather well.

All except for one.

Yukari didn't show it, but she was still troubled by what she had heard about Witches Hill. She didn't believe that her kind was capable of such atrocities, it wasn't possible. If anything, they make sure to stay as well away from the humans as possible. Although… considering the treatment they had received in the past, Yukari couldn't put it past her that some would want revenge.

She shook her head, trying to get the negative thoughts out of her head. Seeing that it wasn't working, she decided to go for a walk to clear her head. Making sure that she didn't wake anyone, she exited the tent and made her way to the field that had gained such a dark reputation.

At first glance, it didn't seem like much of a threat. However, Yukari was able to sense a strong surge of energy flowing through the patch of land. It wasn't nearly as strong as Moka or Ethan, but it was close.

"Fellow Witch." Came a voice form behind.

Yukari jumped, her hat also flying off her head before landing back in place, and gasped fom the surprise. She looked behind her to see someone in a tattered cloak, an old, gnarled hand that looked similar to a branch off of a tree sticking out and holding an old tome. Beside her was a girl in her early twenties that had black hair tied into numerous pony tails, wearing a corset and long skirt that was coated in frills and carried a staff in her left hand that had a crescent moon on top.

Yukari honestly couldn't believe her eyes. The only other witch she had ever seen was her mother, so it was a shock to see other, vastly different looking witches standing before her.

"Please do not be alarmed. We mean you no harm." The cloaked witch said.

The younger of the two stepped forward. "Hello. My name is Ruby. This is my master. We have come to greet you, fellow witch."

"Yukari was still reeling from what she had seen, but she managed to speak all the same. "Uh… hi. I'm Yukari, it's nice to meet you." She managed to say.

The elder nodded. "I understand if it is a bit of a shock seeing us. Not many witches tend to interact with each other in this day and age. However, we hope that you would become our ally."

Yukari was slightly surprised to see this. "Ally?" she asked.

"Yes. We are on a mission to save our home. This hill. With your help, we may be able to save it." Ruby explained.

Yukari looked over at the field. She had to admit, it was a beautiful sight. She couldn't imagine why anyone would want to damage or build anything over it. She looked back to the two, seeing an eager look on Ruby's face.

"Uh, well… I don't know about a war or anything… but if you want, we can become friends." Yukari said.

Ruby dashed towards her and pulled Yukari into a bear hug, a look of pure joy on the frilled witch's face. "Oh, Yukari, that's wonderful. We're going to be the best of friends."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up."

All were startled after hearing a voice that none of them recognized. They all turned towards the source of the voice and found a boy around the same age as the fellow members of the newspaper club, his face hidden beneath a black hood.

Mathias grinned at them from under the hood. "You really want to befriend a couple of mass-murderers, little witch?"

At this, Yukari's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. She looked back at Ruby, who was looking at Mathias with a look of stone. She released her hold on Yukari and walked towards Mathias, he staff pointed towards him.

"Murder? There's nothing wrong with killing a few humans if it means protecting our home." Ruby said back, which only worked to frighten Yukari.

"Wow. I've heard some rubbish in my time, but that takes the biscuit." Mathias said, doing his best to hold back a sadistic laugh.

At this, Ruby charge up some energy in her staff, causing the crescent moon to glow pink. "You will not get away with such an insult, human!" she exclaimed. With that, she pointed towards the field and fired the pink energy into the soil. A few seconds later, roots the diameter of tree trunks shot out from the ground, the tops morphing into heads that resembled Venus fly traps.

"Yes, my child. End this pitiful human's live. Protect our home." The elder witch said.

With that, the creatures shot towards Mathias. They slithered around his and wrapped themselves around him, trapping him and preventing him from moving. Yukari was in total shock from what she was seeing. They had wasted no time in ending the life of that person. It made her sick to her stomach.

This sickness quickly faded, however, when she heard a maniacal laugh erupt from within the trap. This surprised Ruby and her master as well.

"Human? Me?" Mathias asked from within his prison. In seconds, a sphere of black light appeared around the creatures trapping him, grey sparks dancing around it. Within seconds, the creatures trapping him began to thin and lose their color. By the time that it had finished, the monsters had disintegrated into piles of ash, some of which landed on Mathias, but he didn't care.

He did, however, enjoy the looks of shock written on all their witches faces.

"Wh… what? Impossible. You… you can't be human." Ruby stated, panic causing her to take a few steps back.

"THERE YOU GO!" Mathias roared while clicking his fingers. As he did, a scythe appeared in his right hand, which he grabbed onto and twirled it around a few times, making sure he still had a feel for it. When he was finished, he rested it on his shoulder, pushing it back until the blade was past his shoulder. He grabbed onto the handle, just below the blade, and smiled.

"So, either of you two feel lucky now?" he asked. As he spoke, the scythe became coated in an aura as black as the attack that killed the plant monsters. Yukari and Ruby were confused by what they were seeing, but the master glared as she realised who their new opponent was.

"That skill with a scythe. That black magic." The tome glowed in her hands as her anger increased. "So it's true… the Shinigami still exist."

Yukari looked back at the master with shock after hearing her say that.

" _Shingami? As in… the Gods of Death?_ " she thought.

"Glad to see we're not completely forgotten." He said. He squatted close to the ground, tightening his grip on the lower part of his scythe, as his ready to pounce. "Now, seeing how you guys, excluding shorty there, attacked me first… everything I do from now on is self-defence."

With that, he dashed towards the witches, swinging his weapon as he looked forward to this evening's harvest of souls.

 **Okay. I'm going to leave it there for the time being. Granted, I would've liked to add more, but I didn't want to overload it ether. Hope you understand.**

 **Well, looks like one question has finally been answered, the hooded figures identity as well as his race. In case anyone asks, I've always had this in my back pocket for the story, although I had originally planned for the Shinigami to appear in another way. Although, in the end, I thought this way would be cooler.**

 **All the same, I hoped that you guys liked it. If you did, or if you didn't like if for any reason, leave a review of use the PM to voice your opinions.**

 **Well, that's it for me for now. Hope you're all having a nice day. Bye.**


	14. War on the Witch's Hill part 1

**Hi everyone. Hope you're all feeling well today. Just wanted to say thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear that you're enjoying it, and you're suggestions are well appreciated.**

 **Before we begin, I just wanted to say sorry that it took so long for me to upliad the chapter, as I had to study for my exams. Sadly, they are a necessary thing when you've got the ol' college going on, but now that they're finished, I've got more time for writing.**

 **Anywho, that's enough from me. Let's get this show on the road.**

 _Ethan ran through the burning, smoke-filled hallways as quickly as possible. Whatever it was, the creature scared the life out of the now crying boy, who wanted, more than anything, to leave this place and go home._

 _As he ran, the shrieks became quieter and quieter, leaving the crackling sound of fire to travel through the air. Ethan kept running, not paying attention to his surroundings. This lead to him tripping over a piece of debris and falling onto his front._

 _He cried out in pain as he felt his hand press up against something unbearably hot. Ethan pulled away and clutched his hand, which was still sizzling from the heat. He looked and saw that it was a piece of burning wood. He tried to stand up, but the shock left his legs flimsy, resulting in him falling back onto the ground._

 _The traumatized boy looked around, hoping to find some means of escape. Sadly, there was no such luck, as the flames were now catching up with him. Seeing that there was no hope, Ethan clutched his damaged fist and pressed his forehead against the ground._

 _As he waited for the flames to consume him, the boy cried out in both pain and fear, fear of the pain, fear of being alone… fear of losing everyone…_

…

Ethan shot up from the ground, awakening after having suffered another nightmare. He panted heavily and felt the sweat dripping from his brow. He did his best to try and get his breathing under control, managing to get it to a steady rate within ten seconds. When he had finally calmed down, he wiped his face clean and gritted his teeth.

"That dream again." Ethan said.

The nightmare he had was a continuation of the time he was in the hotel. He was a little surprised that he didn't see the creature this time, if he had to be honest. As he was now aware of what kind of creature it was, he had seen a large bird with golden feathers. However, the scene proved more disturbing as he saw blood dripping from both its feathers and eyes, making for a much more grotesque sight.

Ethan shivered as he thought back on the image. While he was no stranger to seeing injuries, the image of the Phoenix lying on the ground like that… he couldn't describe it. All he knew was that he felt sympathy… no, empathy for the creature.

Ethan remembered how he had been practically left for dead in that hotel. Having to suffer burns and injuries as he tried to escape, he felt helpless. Alone. Certain that he was going to die. As such, his surprise rescue, which he only found out about after waking in a hospital bed.

Even though Ethan had made many enemies, not just in the academy, but in the human world during his youth… he wouldn't wish that kind of suffering on anything or anyone.

The pyromancer decided to get up and have a walk at the beach to clear his head, when he heard some sort of commotion going on outside the tent. He heard the panicked voices of the rest of the club, as if they were looking for something. Quickly pulling on his summer gear again, he lept out of the tent to see the group running around the camp.

"What the feck is going on here?" he asked.

Moka turned to him and rushed over, grabbing his hands as she looked at him. "It's Yukari! She's missing!"

"We've been searching for her all over the camp, but we didn't find her." Mizore said, her head pooping up from behind Moka's shoulder.

Ethan didn't respond right away. Of course, he was worried about Yukari, but he wasn't about to let himself be thrown into a fit of panic. Instead, he thought about all the possible places she could've gone off to. There didn't seem to be any traces of anyone on the beach, and she probably couldn't have gotten far given that she didn't know the location well. So that left-

The ground shook, causing all present to stumble and grab onto the nearest support. Ethan hung onto a table that they had left out, while Moka, Kurumu and Mizore all instinctively wrapped themselves around Tsukune, who was now feeling like he was being trapped by a boa constrictor snake.

Ethan looked around, wondering what could cause this kind of earthquake. Suddenly his eyes caught the sight of a stream of pink energy emerging from the peak of the cliff. More specifically, Witches Hill.

Moka came to the same assumption as Ethan that she was there, and was suddenly panicking over the fact that Yukari may be in danger. "YUKARI!" she screamed.

Kurumu looked at the sight, causing her to freeze and for her insides to feel like they were being knotted up. Remembering the harsh words she had told the girl that was supposed to be her friend. "No… no… what have I done." She said, feeling responsible for her being in danger.

Ethan clapped his hands together, snapping everyone out of their respective dazes. They all turned towards Ethan, who wore a deadpan expression on his face.

"Don't worry, Yukari's fine." He said in a similar tone.

"How can you be so sure?" Tsukune asked.

Before Ethan could answer, the ground shook again, this time a stronger, more volatile wave of black energy began to overtake the pink. Ethan let out a small sigh as he answered "Because I know the bat-shit looney who's helping her."

….

Mathias and Ruby lashed their weapons out at each other like they were swords, clashing with each other in the middle. As they did so, strong levels of energy emerged from Ruby and Mathias' bodies, pink and black respectively. Ruby wore a look of pure fury and hate as she stated at her opponent, while Mathias only showed a small grin.

"Wow. You're tougher than you look." Mathias blurted out. He then tilted his head to one side. "Ruby, was it?"

"You have no right to speak my name." the witch roared as he pushed harder, not planning on surrendering any time soon. As she did, the aura became larger and more volatile, prompting a smile from the reaper.

"Not bad. Not bad at all." He said to her. "But…" he tightened his grip on his scythe and, without warning, stopped pushing and took a step back. With the amount of force Ruby was using, she was sent flying forward. As she fell, Mathias spun around and lifted his weapon into the air.

Yukari, who was watching the battle, gasped as she saw the Death God raise his weapon like that. She was sure that he was going to end her life right then. She may not have agreed with her and her master's wishes to eliminate the humans, but she couldn't just sit by and allow this person to kill a fellow witch. She lifted her wand to help, but instead watched as he brought the bottom of the handle onto her back, forcing her onto the ground.

He turned his head towards Yukari after he was sure that Ruby was out of commission for the fight. "Don't worry. I don't really plan on slicing up any witches today." He said to her.

Unknown to him, Ruby managed to push herself up slightly. After hearing what he said, her glare intensified. "More fool you." She muttered under her breath.

With that, Ruby leapt from the ground, aiming to strike the reaper from behind. Yukari saw Ruby zoom towards him, and would've gasped in surprise at it had something else not caught her attention.

Before Ruby could get close enough to the reaper, she felt something wrap around her ankle. She looked behind her to see a boy with silver hair and ember eyes grinning grimly at her. Before she could do anything else, then boy pulled her back and allowed her to fly far behind him. As she flew, Ruby thought if another plan of action. Channeling her power through her staff, she formed six crow-like wings on her back and flew forward.

Yukari's eyes widened at this. "ETHAN!" she roared.

The pyromancer looked behind him to see the apprentice witch fly towards him. She thrusted her staff at him, hoping to catch him off guard. Instead, however, he vanished just as she was about to strike. He reappeared behind Yukari, held onto her by her arm and used his speed to put some distance between the tow and the enemy witches. Mathias looked at Ethan with surprise.

"Damn, you're fast, pyro." The reaper said.

"And you're an ass. Shinigami." Ethan said back.

"Wait. You two know each other?" Yukari asked in surprise.

The elder witch was now gritting her teeth. Not only had they hurt her precious apprentice, but they had also taken Yukari. She would not stand for this. The tome in her hand glowed, and as it did, more plant-like monsters emerged from the ground. In seconds they were making their way towards the three.

Mathias was the first to see them coming, and did not waste any time in rushing towards them. He twirled his weapon around at surprising speed, dicing the monsters one by one as they came towards him. The elder witch was surprised to see how well the reaper danced with the deadly weapon.

This boy was a prime example of the power the Gods of Death held.

"Yukari!"

Ethan and Yukari turned their heads to find the rest of the newspaper club coming their way. The first to make it to the two was Kurumu, who immediately wrapped her arms around the young witch. Yukari's eyes rolled towards the Succubus in surprise. Kurumu released her grip and looked at Yukari with a worried expression.

"Don't you know how worried we were?" she asked, allowing the tears to roll down her cheek. This actually surprised Yukari, as the two always got into some sort of argument. There was never any room for any meaningful conversations. This prompted Yukari to smile at Kurumu in thanks. Kurumu pulled her back into another hug. "Never do anything like that again."

Needless to say, the enemy witches were not pleased.

The elder witch commanded the plant monsters to ignore the reaper and focus their attention on the people around Yukari. They obeyed the order without hesitation. When he saw that the monsters were no longer aimed at him, Mathias rested the scythe on his shoulder and grinned.

"Bad move, 'Grandma'." He said in a mocking tone.

Kurumu saw the monsters coming. In an instant, her wings shot out from her back and her nails elongated. She gently pushed Yukari to her left and charged for the monsters. Mizore followed suit, forming her ice claws and firing a volley of ice kunai in their direction. Moka and Tsukune weren't sure about how to fight back, but they felt that they couldn't just sit back and let their friends get hurt.

Ethan saw their discomfort and held the staff up to them horizontally, catching their attention. "You two may not be able to fight, but you've got more important things to worry about. Get Yukari to safety, she's the one they're after." He said sternly.

"NOOO!"

Ethan looked behind him to see Ruby flying towards him. Grinning, he charged his free hand with flames and thrusted it towards the winged witched. As he did, he the flames shot out from his hand and sailed towards her, forming the shape of a spear as it flew.

Ruby was able to see the projectile coming, though, and quickly evaded it. When she was close enough to the pyromancer, she swung her staff at him wildly, hoping to land a hit. She was angered when he managed to easily block the attack. Ethan clutched Ruby's weapon just below the crescent moon, grinning at his opponent's face of fury. He spun around in a circle and went to send the girl with him as he spun. However, this time he formed a flame gauntlet and punched her in the center of her stomach as he was no longer on her feet.

While he wasn't sure, he think he may have heard something inside of her break.

Ruby was sent flying onto her back, falling unconscious from the pain. The pyromancer, now sure that one enemy was out for the count, turned his attention to the girl's master, who glared at Ethan to the point that it would've felt like she was burrowing into the soul to anyone else.

Key words, 'anybody else'.

"What?" he asked casually while twirling Ruby's staff in his hand in a similar manner to Mathias' scythe.

The elder witch was about to attack when she heard something coming from a distance. Instinctively, she looked up, only to see a barrage of tarot cards flying her way. Het tome glowed again before she suddenly became transparent; as the cards hit her, instead of doing any damage they passed right through, embedding themselves into the ground. The witch returned to normal and looked towards the source of the card attack.

It was Yukari, pointing her weapon at the elder like a sword.

"Y-Yukari?" Tsukune asked, surprised to see her on the offensive.

Yukari lowered her wand and levelled her gaze with the elder witch. "I know that you're trying to save your home. I also understand how you can hate the humans… but I can't let you kill them all like that. It isn't right." She tightened her grip on her wand before continuing. "Also… anyone who is wanting to hurt those dear to me… are my enemies." She said.

Tsukune and Moka looked at her with a look of concern. They could tell that it was difficult for her to say that. Even more so since she was basically declaring war against someone from her own kind.

The elder witch was not pleased by this. In fact, she was so infuriated that she opted to end the 'traitor' as soon as possible. Emitting another powerful aura from her tome, she called forth another plant monster, only this one was well behind Yukari, Moka and Tsukune. Carrying out its master's orders, it launched towards them, another vine with a sharp point emerging from its side.

Tsukune's ears perked up and turned his head around, seeing the monster heading his way. Without thinking, he pushed Moka and Yukari out of the monster's path. He alone faced the brunt of the attack, the sharped vine penetrating the left side of his chest and sliced up towards Tsukune's shoulder blades, cutting right through.

Tsukune went still for a moment, the sudden pain rendering him immobile. When the vine slashed out of Tsukune's shoulder blade, there was nothing to stop him from collapsing to the ground. As he fell, time seemed to slow as she saw Moka and Yukari turning towards him. He also saw how their faces morphed into looks of shock, horror, fear…

Pain.

Tsukune collapsed to the ground. Yukari and Moka couldn't take their eyes off their friend, practically frozen as they couldn't process what they were seeing. Upon coming out of their trances, Yukari's lips trembled and her eyes slowly letting loan tears fall, she collapsed onto her knees and cried in silence. The pain was too much for her to even make a sound.

"Ts… Tsukune…" she softly wept.

Moka, on the other hand, couldn't tear her gaze away from the sight of her friend. Tears were streaming from her face, her irises shrinking as she felt various emotions flow through her. Sadness… fear… pain… but most strongly…

Rage.

The gem in her rosary suddenly began to glow. Within seconds, it had created an aura that covered the gentle vampiress, becoming stronger by the second. With all the energy building up inside of her, she lifted her head towards the sky and screamed at the top of her lungs-

" **TSUKUUUUNEEEEEEE!** "

With that, the energy building up within was released, unleashing a much more volatile version of the aura, streams travelling in all directions, slicing or obliterating anything that came across them. Many of the plant monsters had fallen victim to the force.

Ethan heard the screams and saw the light coming from the burst of energy. When he directed his eyes towards the source of the great power, his eyes widened with great surprise. His eyes were widened even more when he saw what the cause of it was.

"Damn it!" Ethan cursed as he saw Tsukune on the ground, bleeding out. He ignored the elder witch and made his way over to his friend. Unforunately, he was hit by a lone stream of energy from Moka's aura.

Mathias saw Moka and looked at the release of power with slight awe. He had seen many things in his life, but he most certainly hadn't seen anything _that_ powerful since… A smile formed on his face as he then made the connection.

"Well I'll be damned, Bloodriver." Mathias said with a dark grin.

A second later, the aura, if at all possible, began to expand and glow more brightly. Mathias held an arm over his eyes as the light grew more intense. Yukari fell onto her backside and pulled her hat over her eyes to try and block out the light. Ruby managed to pull herself up and saw the power radiating off of the grief-stricken vampiress.

"What… what is this?" she asked out loud.

She didn't get an answer, as instead her vision was blocked by the light, followed by an intense pain flowing through her body. After that, all went black.

…..

Ruby felt a searing pain going throughout her body. She found it difficult to move at first, barely able to move her pinky finger. After a few more seconds, however, she was able to get some feeling back into her body and gently sat up. Her eyes still closed, she placed a hand on her head as she tried to remember what had happened.

"Oh, are you awake?"

Ruby opened her eyes widely to see the newspaper club sitting right before her. Tsukune was without a shirt, instead wearing a number of bandages around his torso, but still smiling nonetheless. Moka, Kurumu, Mizore and Yukari also looked eager in front of the woman. The only one who didn't seem happy was Ethan, who sat farther away from the group and looked at Ruby with a hateful stare.

"How are you feeling?" Yukari asked. She was holding out a can of lemonade to the older witch.

Ruby looked at the can with suspicion. "Is this supposed to bribe me?" she asked.

"It's supposed to be a peace offering. Seems like a waste of time to me." Ethan answered with a venomous tone.

Tsukune looked back at the fire user with a nervous look and laugh. "Hey, come on, Ethan, she's a guest."

Ethan said nothing, instead looking away from them and emitting a low growl.

Moka ignored him and looked back at Ruby with a sympathetic expression. "Hey, Ruby. Listen… I know that you had it rough. Yukari told us about what you and your master are fighting for." Moka placed a hand over one of Ruby's. "But the way you're going about it isn't going to help. It'll only make things worse."

Ruby pulled back her hand. "This is the only way to do it. The humans care nothing about life so long as they get what they want. They are nothing but selfish scum that deserve to be wiped from the planet!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Still, killing them is not going to help you." Mizore pointed out.

"If there are no humans, then there won't be anything to destroy our home!"

Ethan was starting to get a headache from what Ruby was saying. Before anyone else could say anything, he stood up, walked over to the witch and glared at her, causing said witch to feel a slight shiver travelling down her spine.

"You know, I've had enough of people like you. People who think that they can just go around and destroy anything they see fit so long as it makes life more comfortable for themselves. Also known as the 'Cowardly method'." Ethan started. "Why is it that people like you try to make things worse instead of trying to put in the effort for a more peaceful solution? Or is it too much for you're brain to comprehend?"

That comment seemed to hurt Yukari more than Ruby. True, she didn't like the route that Ruby was going down, but she didn't like how hard Ethan was being on her. Normally, he was the kind of person to get all the facts before making a decision about something.

"You don't understand. The humans deserve to die." Ruby said back, meeting his glare with one of her own.

"And why is that?"

"BECAUSE THEY WERE THE ONES THAT KILLED MY PARENTS!"

At this, Ethan's eyes widened with surprise. He was now getting somewhere with this girl. "I see… this isn't really about following your master's wishes or saving the hill. It's vengeance."

"It's… it's justice." Ruby said more weakly. "They were… run over by a car. They pushed me out of the way… so I wouldn't get hit." A lone tear rolled down her face. "They didn't deserve to die like that."

Ethan sat back down on the ground. "Tell me something." He said more softly than before. "Losing the people you cared about. Is that something that you would wish on anyone else?"

Ruby looked shocked after hearing that. "What? No! that kind of pain-"

"Is exactly the kind of thing that you are going to inflict on people who have done nothing wrong to you." Ethan interrupted. "I know what it's like to lose the ones you love. Almost all of my family were killed in a fire when I was smaller. Afterwards, I was broken, hateful and would do anything to distract myself from the pain. It's actually one of the reasons I know how to fight so well, since I got into a lot of them."

Kurumu, Mizore and Yukari all looked in horror after hearing this. They heard from Tsukune that Ethan had a rough past, but… this was too much to handle. They couldn't believe that someone went through that much pain and is still standing.

"Surprisingly, though, while I still want to find the one responsible… I'm not sure that I could hurt that person. What would the point be if all you're going to get out of it is dealing the same kind of pain that destroyed you? What comes after? A hollow shell of what you used to be."

Ruby was at a loss for words after hearing this. For a long time now, all she wanted was justice for her parents, but instead she was going to make other feel the same kind of pain that she felt. In that instant, she finally realized what she was doing was the wrong thing.

"But… what should I do?" she asked.

Tsukune placed a hand on Ethan's shoulder and nodded to him, signalling him to take over. After Ethan nodded in response, Tsukune spoke on. "Do what you're parents would've wanted you to do. Be the best kind of person you can be. Live life to the full and learn to appreciate everything you _do_ have in life. That way, you'll be making them proud."

Ruby was on the verge of breaking down into tears from all the emotion. Sighing, Ethan stood back up and made his way out of the tent. "I'm going to scout the area. I'll be back in a bit." He said as he passed through the exit. As he left, Yukari placed a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby looked at Yukari, who had a similarly cocky grin to Ethan.

"He sure is something, huh?"

…

Ethan had walked quite the distance away from the tent, hoping it would help him to clear his head. Sadly, or rather annoyingly, he felt an unusual presence. Sighing, as he felt the same sort of energy flowing through the air. He looked to his side and found Mathias lying on the ground, staring up at the stars. Mathias had heard Ethan's footsteps and tilted his head so that he could see him.

"Hi, pyro. How's the girl? I'd imagine that she's a little shaken up." The reaper said.

In response, Ethan dashed towards Mathias with an active flame gauntlet, stopping it just inches away from the Shinigami's face. "Why were you following Yukari?" he asked with a venomous tone.

"Ooooh, touchy, touchy." Mathias said at first, which only succeeded in making Ethan's eyes narrow. "but to answer your question, I was actually tracking that witch with tree-bark skin. Yukari just happened to be there at the time."

"Why don't I believe you?" Ethan asked.

"Probably because you hate me." Mathias said humorously. "To be fair, tracking that woman, or more specifically, the source of the problems on the hill was the mission I was asked to do." He gave Ethan a blade-like smile. "I'd imagine since, we have a common enemy, we can put aside our little squabble and focus on the _real_ threat."

"Not on your life." Ethan said. He extinguished the gauntlet and pulled back his fist. "But I don't like the idea of that old crone walking around, causing damage."

"There you go." Mathias said. He flipped back onto his feet and scratched the side of his head. "Now, if I'm right, she's going to come after Ruby, since she's the only ally that the elder has."

"That might not be true anymore." Ethan stated.

At this, Mathias looked at Ethan in confusion. "Why not?"

"Gave her the sternest discussion I've ever given, making her see past her lust for vengeance." Ethan answered.

Mathias was silent for a moment before he burst into a fit of maniacal laughter. "OH WOW! SHE IS NOT GONNA LIKE THIS!" he yelled.

As if to respond, large roots shot up from the ground, the tips forming into Venus fly trap heads. The two teens looked at the threats, Mathias quickly recovering from his laughing fit, and readied themselves for another fight.

"Is what you say true?"

The pyromancer and Shinigami looked past the roots to see the old witch, tome in hand and fury in her eyes.

"Has Ruby turned against me?"

Mathias pointed towards Ethan. "Yep. This guy is a real smooth talker, helped her to see that your way of thinking is as useless as a Swiss army knife without the knife."

Ethan glared at the witch. "You will not have her kill any more people." He said, preparing a flame grenade in each hand.

More roots shot up from the ground right beside the elder witch, her eyes shrinking with anger. "I will NOT let you corrupt her!" she exclaimed.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black." Mathias commented as he summoned his scythe, spinning it like an accelerated windmill. He rested the weapon on his shoulder and smirked. "Bring it on!"

With that, more monsters grew out from the ground, taking on humanoid form with plant-like heads. They charged towards the reaper and pyromancer, who had made the decision not to hold back.

…

The rest of the newspaper club were all busy with trying to help Ruby. Ethan's words had certainly left their mark, as well as Tsukune's input, abd she was currently lost in thought. She held on the the lemonade can that she was offered earlier, her mind going back and forth between her master's teachings and the words of the fire user.

Yukari looked at the fellow witch with an expression of worry. She could tell that the conflict was practically eating at her. She wanted to help, but she didn't know what to do.

Kurumu went up to the troubled witch and offered her some cookies that she made earlier for the trip. As Ruby looked at them, Yukari suddenly widened her eyes and dashed in between them.

"WAAAAIT!" she yelled, starling them both. Yukari pulled out her wand and waved it over the baked goods, a low light emitting from the heart. After a few seconds, Yukari lowered the wand and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god. I thought those were the coookies you spiked with that love potion for Tsukune."

At this, Moka twitched an eye and looked back at the two in question, a look of disbelief on her face. "YOU DID WHAT!?"

Yukari and Kurumu both pointed at each other. "She did it!" they both said.

Before anyone else could say anything else, they heard a loud noise, like something bursting prom the ground. It was followed by the sound of flames igniting and a blade cutting the air. All were startled by the sound, and Tsukune tried to quickly make his way outside, only to feel the pain in his shoulder come back with a vengeance of its own. He collapsed onto one knee and grunted in pain.

"Tsukune!" Moka exclaimed in alarm. She knelt beside him and held him close. Kurumu and Mizore were envious of the sight, but they put it at the back of their minds as they made their way outside.

"We'll be right back." Kurumu said seriously.

"Try not to have too much fun, you two." Mizore stated with a smile, making the human and vampiress blush.

…

On the outside, Mathias and Ethan were going head to head against a whole army of plant based creatures.

Ethan was focusing on using his flame grenades to defeat as many enemies as he could, as well as using the long range aspect and value of the ability as he didn't want to risk getting damaged ina close quarters fight. If an enemy did get too close, then he would summon his flame guantlets and greaves to quickly strike and set them alight. One benefit of them being plant monsters is that they can catch fire more easily, making his pyrokenisis all the more valuable in this fight.

Meanwhile, Mathias chose to forgo caution in this fight and make full use of close quarters combat. He twirled his scythe expertly as he used the speed and momentum to help him slice his opponents more easily. However, while he endulged in his dance of death, he wasn't afraid to use his fists when needed. If too many opponents were surrounding him, he stuck the bottom of the scythe handle in the ground and spun around the weapon, using the spinning motion to tear through them.

As the two fought, the elder witch couldn't help but look in slight awe at how easily they were tearing through her loyal monsters. Nover before had there been amyone who could slice through them.

"Those two… they cannot be allowed to live." She said out loud.

The gem in her tome illuminating, the witch summoned more monsters. However this time, instead of going straight towards the two males, they faced the ground and released some seeds into the ground. Within seconds, ten times the number of monsters were appearing.

Ethan took notice of this and growled. "You've got to be kidding me."

As the new creatures, they suddenly stopped as they saw something zooming towards them. Before they could react again, they were immediately sliced by the incoming projectile. As it flew past them, they were all cut down into smaller pieces.

The projectile stopped, revealing to have a familiar pair of purple wings. Kurumu looked behind her and gave Ethan and Mathias a cheeky grin. "Miss me, boys?"

Before either could respond, a number of ice pikes shot out from the ground, impaling many of the monsters at once. They heard a faint whistle, making them turn their heads towards the source of the sound, only to find Mizore with her arms folded. "We thought you could use some help."

Three more viper-like vines shot from the ground, lunging towards the group. Mathias was the first, spinning around before throwing his weapon with great force. As he did, the scythe spun and curved like a boomerang as it sliced through the plant monsters. The weapon flew back towards him, to which he caught effortlessly.

He looked back towards the girls and winked. "Like what you see?"

The girls scoffed at him, but allowed him a smile each.

"Master! Please stop!" came a familiar voice.

All looked towards where they heard the voice, only to see Ruby running over to the group. Upon seeing her, the elder witch glared at her.

"Ruby… tell me. Did they really turn you against me?" she asked.

"They showed me that what we are doing is wrong. It isn't worth defending our home if all we're going to do is make the same mistakes as the humans." She said. she placed her hands over her chest as she continued. "Please, master. You were always so kind, understanding, and you always cared about life, no matter what form it took. I beg of you, please look into your heart and find it in you to stop this conflict. It's gone on for too long."

Ethan looked at the young witch with widened eyes. He was impressed that she was already standing up to her master. He was also proud that she was able to see past her hatred and pain, now free to make her own decisions.

"…" the elder witch was silent for a moment. Unmoving, like a perfect statue.

All were unsure of what to make of this, thinking that she may be contemplating what her apprentice said. However, Ethan felt another presence among the group. He looked back and saw a smaller plant monster sneaking up behind Ruby. Using his speed, he dashed towards her, pushed out of the way and tried to strike creature himself.

The small monster shot out a tongue that was as like a length of rope, reaching out and piercing Ethan in the leg. He grunted in pain at first, then grabbing the tongue, pulling the creature up to him and incinerating it. He looked back at Ruby, about to ask if she was okay, but he didn't get the chance as he felt a sharp, paralyzing pain shoot all over his body. Unable to handle it, he collapsed to the ground.

The girls paled at the sight and widened their eyes in shock, while Mathias was expressionless at first before a dark glare formed on his face.

"ETHAN!" the girls roared.

"Damn it!" Mathias cursed.

With the group distracted, the elder witch activated her tome again, summoning a much thinner vine. It shot towards Ruby and binded her, followed by the vine pulling her back beside her master. The rest of the group saw being pulled back and were about to attack when the vine wrapped around Ruby's neck.

"One more move, and I'll snap her neck." The elder witch exclaimed.

Ruby's eyes widened, mainly out of the betrayal she suddenly felt. She found it painful to hear that her master would kill her.

The rest of the group went still after hearing that. After a few seconds of weighing their options, they deactivated their respective weapons, gritting their teeth at the fact that they couldn't help her.

"Now… if you value our lives… you will leave, and allow me to complete my mission." She said. "However…" more monsters began flying out of the ground, bearing their teeth and claws at the club and the reaper. "Just to be sure."

With that, Ruby and her master faded from view, leaving Mizore, Kurumu, Mathias and an ailing Ethan to fend for themselves.

Kurumu brought out her claws again, bit was still incredibly nervous and afraid. "I… I don't think we can handle this many."

Mizore narrowed her gaze. "Guess we'll have to take down as many as we can with us." She said as she summoned her ice claws.

Mathias regarded the two for a moment before rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "Amateurs."

Mathias generated as much aura as he possibly could, imbuing it into the scythe. Holding it like and axe, he swung it deep into the ground and embedded the blade as far into the ground as he could. The aura travelled from the scythe into the ground, soon spreading rapidly through the soil and causing the ground to emit a black, foul-smelling smoke. The ground then began to dry and crumble, all life being drained from it. in the process, the monsters were affected, resulting in them becoming dried up and shrivelled, fading into nothing but ash in a matter of seconds.

Mathias pulled his weapon from the ground and looked at the piles of ash with a blank expression. "It's as I thought. The bitch of a witch enchanted the ground. Without that, they have no power."

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he looked back at Ethan, who was doing his best to pull himself off of the ground. Ethan's eyes were filled with so much hate that they glowed ember. "Ru… Ruby… forgive… me." He said before falling back onto the ground. Mathias took a step forward out of instinct, but controlled himself and stood where he was. Mizore and Kurumu went to his side, both carrying him up.

"We need to get back to the camp. Yukari might know what happened." Mizore said.

Kurumu nodded and proceeded to help the snow woman carry Ethan back to the tent. Mathias, on the other hand, looked to where the elder witch stood. At the moment, his main concern wasn't about Ethan's health, or Ruby's predicament, not even the level of Torment that Yukari was feeling like about this.

What mattered to him… the fact that someone caught him out. No one caught him out and got away with it.

Mathias' eyes slowly changed color, the irises, whites, the whole lot became pure, soulless black.

" **Wrong move, you sorry excuse for a witch.** " He said with a venomous tone that rivaled Ethan's.

 **Alright, we're going to leave it at that for the time being. Before I head off there are a couple of thing I want to talk about briefly, and I thought that you would like to know.**

 **1: I recently published a new Fairy Tail/RWBY crossover called 'Sky Havoc in Remnant' that I would recommend either if you are a fan of one or both, or if you want to try something different. If at all possible, I wouldn't mind getting your opinions on them.**

 **2: If there are any readers of 'Fairy Tail: Dark Void', I got a lot of feedback that made me think a lot about how I was writing the story, and I considered taking it down altogether, but instead I'm planning on publishing a reboot, that way, if you liked the original, it's still there to read, and there's another one for you to try out as well.**

 **3: I recently saw something on the television that really had me thinking. It was a show about life for people working in ambulances and what they see on their shifts. The episode I saw was about people who were basically living in isolation, not having anyone to talk to or look out for them, and it lead to a lot of problems. It got me to thinking how people can be affected by loneliness.**

 **Granted you might not always see it, but there might be someone who doesn't have anyone in their lives they can talk to. So, if you think that someone seems a bit lonely or troubled, talk to them, show them that they aren't alone. Also, if you are also feeling a bit lonely, don't be afraid to step out and meet people. I know it sounds scary, and it is, but if you try, and you keep trying, it will become easier, and you will find someone you can rely on.**

 **Right, that's all from me. Hope you're all having a nice day, and I'll see you later.**


	15. War on the Witch's Hill part 2

**Hi all. Hope all well with yourselves. Just before we get into the story, just wanted to thanks for the support you all gave me, whether it being shouting out ideas, the nice comments, criticism or checking out the story, I appreciate it. Also, in case it irked anyone, I'm sorry I haven't updated this story in a while, I've got a fair bit going on, plus I've made the mistake of working on all the stories at the same time. Much more time consuming than I imagined.**

 **Nevertheless, the show, or rather story, shall go on. So, I'll shut up and let yee read away. Enjoy.**

Tsukune and Yukari all sat in the tent in silence, waiting for the group to return. Moka had been the Moka, on the other hand, was the more proactive out of the three and was tending to Tsukune's injury, worried that it might open up again.

Tsukune looked over to Moka and gave her a nod. "Thanks, Moka." He simply said.

Moka had nodded in response. After what had happened earlier, neither were sure of what words, or if any words, could be spoken to help the mood.

Yukari was struggling the most at the moment. After hearing the sound of the violence escalating, Ruby took it upon herself to go out and see if she could help. She assumed that if she could just talk to her master, she could convince her to spare the humans, and try to find another way of saving their home. However, no one from the group has yet to return.

"Do you think… they're okay?" Yukari asked.

Moka looked over to Yukari, giving her a cheery smile despite her own self-doubt. "Don't worry. They'll be fine. Kurumu and Mizore aren't pushovers. And Ethan would sooner French kiss a slug monster before losing in a fight."

At that, Tsukune shivered, the disgusting becoming present in his mind's eye. "Please don't say that again." He pleaded, incurring slight giggles from the girls. As their spirits were lifted slightly, Tsukune couldn't help but wonder about the individual that had worked with them in the fight earlier.

"That guy… the one with the scythe…" Tsukune started.

Moka looked back at Tsukune and tilted her head to one side. "Mathias?" she asked just to make sure.

"You know him too!?" Yukari exclaimed.

At that, Tsukune and Moka looked at the young witch in confusion. "What do mean? Do you know him as well?"

Yukari shook her head. "No, but I think Ethan does. He knew that Mathias was a Shinigami, and Mathias knew about Ethan's flames. They spoke to each other like they were, I don't know, 'rivals'."

At that, Tsukune looked down oat the ground, trying to think about what Yukari said. "But how? Both he and I weren't aware of the monster world before my parents found that flyer. And Ethan wasn't able to control fire like he can until-" his eyes then widened as suddenly made a connection. "No way."

Moka saw the look of realisation in his eyes. Before she could ask about what he was thinking, Kurumu burst into the tent, worry coating her face.

"GET A MAT READY! ETHAN'S HURT!" the bluenette cried.

Soon after, Mathias and Mizore came into the tent, carrying in an unconscious pyromancer into the tent. Tsukune paled at the sight, while Moka widened her eyes and covered her mouth in response to the shock.

Yukari, however, was a lot more calm and composed, seeing her friend suddenly in danger, she got her wand and waved it, causing one of the bed mats to float out and unroll onto the ground. As soon as it did, Ethan was placed on it.

"What happened?" Moka asked, seeing her friend deathly still, the only signs of life being her sharp ears picking up on his heartbeat.

"The idiot got hit with a vine and got some kind of poison injected into him." Mathias answered. He looked at the sweat going down his brow. "Whatever it was, it actually took down the living furnace."

Kurumu showed Yukari where the poisoned vine struck, revealing an angry looking wound. A look of concern was present on her face. "I don't know what I can do. If I don't know what kind of poison was used, I can't cure him.

"There must be a way." Mizore said, calm but serious.

Mathias looked down at the pyromancer. He thought back to all the fights he had seen him in. The lizard morons, the perverted fan club, the swimming club and so on. In each of them, Drake had managed to pull one hell of a surprise, wiping them out in an instant. Even the S-class monster, the werewolf, wasn't able to-

Mathias widened his eyes in surprised, then forming a blade-like smile on his face. he knelt down and poked his head slightly.

Tsukune saw this. "Hey! What are you doing!?" he asked.

"C'mon, Drake. After all those other fights you got into? After showing those cunts who's the boss? You're just going to give up?" he shook his head slightly. "You really are a waste."

Moka gaped in shock at the Shinigami, before looking at him with a stern frown and her fists clenched.

Mathias decided to land the killing blow. "What would your parents say?" he asked in a mocking tone.

At that, Ethan's body temperature rocketed, turning his skin bright red and steam to emit as well. After a few seconds, a green and purple smoke floated out of his pours, fading as quickly as it came out. After the smoke finally stopped coming out, his eyes shot open, glowing more intensely than before.

He lept off the mat and lunged for Mathias, latching his left hand around his throat and coating his hands with fire as he kept his grip on him. He used his free hand to summon a flame grenade, which he planned to shove into Mathias' mouth.

" **Big… Mistake.** " Ethan said, his voice echoing from the power flowing through him.

Not bothered by the flames, Mathias gently placed a hand over the arm that was restraining him. He then latched on, proving to have more strength than he let on, causing Ethan to grunt in pain as Mathias moved Ethan's hand away from him with ease.

"Guess it worked a little too well there. Sorry about that." Mathias said. Quickly moving behind Ethan, he let off a slight chuckle, placing his hands behind his head. "For what it's worth, I didn't mean what I said. I remembered how you took down the werewolf a while ago. Reckoned that you needed the same thing to burn through the poison in your system."

Ethan had more anger in his eyes than he had ever shown before, added with an orange aura coating his form. After a few seconds, the aura faded and his eyes returned to their original color.

"Say anything like that again… and I will tear you limb… from… limb." Ethan said, his voice returning to normal, but laced with enough venom to terrify the rest of the club. Flopping to the ground, Ethan held a hand under his chin as he tried to think about how to rescue Ruby. "We need to find a way to save Ruby."

Yukari gasped. "Ruby? What happened?" she asked.

"Her master took her." He answered, his eyes narrowing. "Chances are after she learned that Ruby's not going to help her anymore, she's planning on getting rid of her."

"You ain't too far off, kid."

The group turned around, seeing the bus driver with a cigar in his mouth. Ethan got back onto his feet and walked up to him, pulling the cigar out of his mouth.

"No smoking indoors." He calmly said, causing the driver to laugh. "Now, what do you want?"

The driver put his hands in his pocket before explaining himself. "Simple. To tell you that Ruby's master's gonna use her as a sacrifice." He said.

At this, the club members gasped, except for Ethan, who raised his brow in surprise.

"Sugar. Looks like that woman can hold a grudge." Mathias commented.

"It's more than that." The driver continued. "Originally, she wanted Ruby to lead the plant monsters against the humans. Although, because Ruby's after turning away from her master's… 'ideals', she view Ruby as a traitor and is going to take her powers for herself."

At this, Mathias looked a little more serious. "That's… not good." He said.

Ethan clenched his fists. He took in a few breaths to try and calm himself down. When he regained his composure, he spoke. "If that's the case, then we need to work on saving her." Her looked back to the rest of the group. "Who's with me?"

As soon as he asked that, Moka quickly went up to him, looking more assertive this time around and shook her head. "Ethan, you are not going this time."

"… What?" the pyromancer asked.

"You were just poisoned. I know you burnt it out of your system, but how do we know that there aren't any side effects? You can't go out there until we know that you're in full health." She explained. She could see that Ethan wasn't happy about this, not one bit, but she knew she had to say it.

After a brief moment of silence, which involved Yukari and Kurumu holding onto each other for dear life in case Ethan lost his temper, the pyromancer eventually sighed in acceptance.

"Okay, I see your point." He admitted. "But I can't just sit here and let you guys face her alone. We need all the firepower we can get."

Mathias then raised his hand. "In that case… may I make a suggestion?" he asked, gaining the attention of everyone in the tent. "Just want to make sure, Drake. You still have your staff, right?"

"Uh, actually, I have it." Yukari said, taking off her hat, reaching in and effortlessly pulling out the item in question. "I held onto it when Ethan left the tent, just in case."

Mathias nodded in understanding. "Smart. In any case, if you're looking for power…" he pointed at the staff. More specifically, the pentagram seal. "All you need to is remove the seal."

At this, Yukari widened her eyes with surprise, in contrast to Ethan, whose eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"I told you before, Shinigami. We're not removing the seal." He stated.

Mathias looked at him with a smug smile. "So, you'd rather let the girl die then.?" He sarcastically questioned.

Ethan was silent for a few seconds, doing his best to hold back a growl. His eyes widened when he felt someone holding onto his hand. He looked and saw that it was Yukari, who had a reassuring smile on her face.

"Its okay, Ethan." She said. "I know it said it might not be a good idea, but… we need to use everything in our power to help her."

Ethan could see that she didn't belief that using the power in the staff would be safe either, but he could also see that she was desperate. Personally, he could empathize. He would do anything to help protect the people he cared about, but he was also afraid of what might happen if it were released.

Especially since it was the Chairman, someone who Ethan couldn't trust no matter how hard he tried, who gave him the staff.

After weighing his options for a moment, he eventually sighed in defeat. He looked over at the Shinigami, hate still present in the pyromancer's eyes.

"Alright. We'll do it."

…

Ruby slowly opened her eyes, feeling a little groggy for some reason. Her vision was slightly blurry, so she wasn't able to make out anything straight away. However, it soon returned to normal, allowing her to see that she was lying within a circle that was drawn into the soil she was lying on.

Still feeling a little weak, she managed to push herself up, wanting to check to see where she was. When she was on her feet, she turned her head from side to side, seeing that she was in a different area to Witch's Hill.

"Where… am I?" Ruby asked out loud.

"Someplace where those meddlesome beasts won't disturb us."

Ruby's eyes widened. She turned her head to the source of the voice, only to see her master looking back at her with a terrifyingly calm expression. His caused Ruby to take an involuntary step back, only to hit off something as she did. Startled, she turned around to see nothing there. Gently, she lifted her hand and reached out, only for her hand to press up against an invisible surface.

"A barrier." The Elder Witch explained. "So that you won't escape what is coming to you." She explained.

Soon, more vines shot up from where Ruby was standing, two wrapping themselves around her arms and one wrapping itself around her neck, while others lslithered across the ground like snakes, ensuring that she won't escape.

"Why… master… why?" Ruby asked as she struggled to breathe.

"You chose to defend the humans, Ruby." The Elder witch stated. "You side with those who defend your parent's killers. I cannot forgive you for betraying me in such a manner."

Ruby struggled to free herself from the vines as she spoke. "We can't… justify… killing… with killing…" she said. "We're only… destroying ourselves…"

Ruby's master was silent after Ruby spoke. She then rose a hand and clicked her fingers, causing the vine around Ruby's neck to tighten further, cutting off Ruby's airflow.

"Huu…" Ruby managed to say before her speech was cut off entirely.

The tome in the Elder Witch's hand began to glow, causing her other hand to glow with the same energy. "Ruby… I'm sorry…" the energy soon became more concentrated and volatile. "But you must exist no more." With that, the Elder witch fired the blast of energy from her hand at Ruby.

The energy phased through the barrier, making it's way towards Ruby's head. As her vision began to blur, she felt like everything was crashing down on her. She had lost the first friends she had ever made and her life was about to be taken by her mentor… the woman who cared for her like a mother…

"Despicable."

Just before the energy struck Ruby, a figure appeared right in front of her. Said figure swung her leg up in front of the blast, instantly shattering it like glass, saving Ruby. A cloud of smoke formed from the explosion, momentarily blinding Ruby, but the explosion was strong enough to weaken the vines.

They released their grip on her and she collapsed to the ground, taking in large breaths and doing her best to get her breathing back under control. As she did, she looked up to see her savior. She was momentarily startled when she saw who it was.

Before her was Moka, only her hair was now pure while, she was taller, her curves seemed more defined, and her eyes were now blood red with slitted pupils. Another thing Ruby noticed was that she wasn't wearing the Rosary from before.

"To think that you took Ruby under your wing, treated her like family. And now you had her set up like a lamb for the slaughter." The inner Moka said with disgust towards the Elder witch. Her eyes seemed to glow with rage. "You certainly are a weak individual."

At that, an aura of energy formed around the Elder witch, her eyes widened with anger and shock from the woman's outburst. "I shall not be spoken to like that by ANYONE!" she roared, sending beams of energy towards the vampiress.

Moka smirked as she saw them coming. As she prepared to throw her next attack, a scythe flew over her head, slicing the beams and nullifying their power. The scythe then spun back like a boomerang, flying back over Moka's head, prompting her to looked back and see Mathias with his hand outstretched, while somehow standing on the ceiling above them.

"What?" Mathias asked, as if he was just minding his business and not defying gravity. "Can't I have some fun?"

The Elder witch looked up and saw the young Shinigami. Mathias noticed the stared and returned with a cocky smile, while professionally spinning his weapon in his hand. As she was about to attack again, she was surprised to feel the temperature of the room go down to freezing temperatures.

"We didn't like it when you poisoned our friend."

Mizore shot up from the shadows, her ice claws ready to go, and swiped towards Elder witch. While she was some distance away, she had still fired off a number of ice kunai towards their opponent. Before the Elder witch could defend, she felt a sharp pain go through her right lower leg. This distracted her long enough for the kunai to main the witch, sending her onto her knees.

"THAT was for hurting my destined one." Kurumu yelled viciously.

Kurumu tore out her claws, further damaging her leg to the point where the Elder witch was roaring in pain. She looked back at Kurumu and, with as much energy as she could muster, fired another blast of energy at the succubus. Luckily the blast was intercepted when a water basin appeared in front of Kurumu, saving her from the attack.

"You won't hurt my friends anymore." Yukari stated, determination present in her voice and on her face. the little witch looked over at Moka and Ruby, soon waving her want in their direction. "Dispel!" she yelled. As she did, the barrier shattered, freeing them both.

The present members of the newspaper club and the Shinigami had the woman surrounded, prepared to strike again. The Elder witch looked around, seeing her opponents, cursing at how she was so easily beaten by them."

"How can I lose… to the likes of you?" she asked with a venomous tone.

Kurumu allowed herself a smile before answering. "We do what it takes when someone hurts one of our friends."

Mathias fell from the ceiling and spun himself around mid-air, landing in a crouch position. He rested his scythe on his shoulder before speaking. "Plus, you're a pretty reckless fighter. You left as many holes in your position as a piece of Swiss cheese." Mathias said. "Shouldn't be hard to finish this." He added, standing to full height and coating his weapon in a black aura.

The Elder witch looked around. Even she could tell, despite her delusions, that she was now outmatched. Honestly, she didn't expect for them to be this powerful. She assumed the boy with the silver hair was the only real threat. How wrong she was.

Seeing that she was about to lose, she knew that she only had one choice left.

The Newspaper club all suddenly looked confused when they heard the older woman laughing.

"Huh? Why's she laughing?" Kurumu asked.

Moka looked at the woman, her eyes narrowing as she suddenly felt something unusual emitting from her. It felt like…

"Uh oh." The Shinigami said as he realized what was going on. He then took a few steps back as he spoke. "We ought to high-tail it out of here!"

Ruby looked at her master, feeling a similar strand of power radiating from the woman. She couldn't make heads or tails of what it could've been at first, having never come in contact with this kind of magic before. That was when, however, when she realized what it was.

"No…" Ruby whispered. Her voice then reached maximum volume as she exclaimed. "MASTER, STOP! YOU'RE USING FORBIDDEN MAGIC, YOU CAN' COME BACK FROM THAT!"

The Elder witch began to twitch, subtly at first, but as the magic within her began to increase she was soon losing control of her body completely. She looked at Ruby, her eyes completely covered with a pale light.

" **It is already too late!** "

…

"I still think I should've gone there."

At this time, while the girls had gone to rescue Ruby, Ethan and Tsukune were still in their tent. Ethan agreed that he needed some rest before heading back out there, but he wasn't the most patient person in the world, and he had to try hard to resist the urge to out there and join the fight.

Tsukune, who was reading over one of Ethan's original stories for the newspaper's comic section, turned his head to see Ethan sitting on his backside, resting his his head on his hand while seeming to pout like a child.

"Wow. I never thought that I'd see you like that." Tsukune commented.

"Like what?" Ethan asked, although his mind was still a little preoccupied to care.

"You're sitting there like Yukari when she's trying to tutor Kurumu. It's not like you." Tsukune explained.

At that, Ethan swiftly turned his head towards Tsukune, with his eyes glowing from sudden irritation from that comparison. Immediately, Tsukune's throat went dry from the fearful look on his friend's face.

Ethan was about to say something else when he saw the draft he had been working on in Tsukune's hand. At that, Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Wha… how did you get that?" he asked Tsukune. Ethan normally kept his drafts hidden away, partly because he didn't want anyone spoiling anything, but primarily because he, surprisingly, was shy about his original works.

"Mizore found them before we left." Tsukune said before he went back to reading them. "This one's pretty good. A medium brought back from the dead to expose a guy who's using the resurrected for evil purposes. How come this wasn't published yet?"

"Because it ain't finished you eejit." Ethan said. the pyromancer stood up and snatched the drawings away from Tsukune. "Besides, I'd rather get some facts straight before I put in the paper. Don't want to risk pissing anyone off with the paper."

At that, Tsukune nodded in acknowledgement. There were some communities in the monster world that weren't happy with some of the stuff that was made in the hman world that was based off them, like the old 'Wolfman' movie, which apparently angered the werewolves because it made their kind out to be uncontrollable killers.

Tsukune walked over to his bed mat and sat down on it cross legged, allowing his mind to drift into thought. A few seconds later, Ethan brought him out of his trance.

"A penny for your thoughts." The pyromancer said.

"Just wondering if the girls are okay." Tsukune answered.

Ethan smirked as he was rummaging through his back, looking for something. "You needn't worry. After all, those girls aren't push-overs. Plus, you removed the seal on Moka, so they should be able to handle the witch." He said confidently.

"It's not the witch I'm worried about." Tsukune said.

This caused Ethan to stop what he was doing and raise his head up in confusion. He turned back towards Tsukune and asked "What do you mean?"

"That guy… Mathias… I don't trust him." Tsukune stated. He looked over at Ethan. "Tell me. How do you guys know each other?"

Ethan tried to think of an answer to Tsukune's question. Truth be told, he didn't mind the idea of the group knowing about Mathias kidnapping him, but if he revealed anything about the class rep's murder, then it would cause them to panic.

And now was most certainly not the time to panic.

"Um, well… I- WHOA!" Ethan said. before he could finish what he was wanting to say, the ground suddenly shook with tremendous force, causing Ethan to stumble and Tsukune to jump up, only to fall back down again from the instability of the ground.

"Wha- Ethan, what's going ON!?" Tsukune asked.

"HOW THE HELL SHOULD I KNOW!?" Ethan said back.

The shaking slowly came to a halt. Ethan then rushed out of the tent to see what was going on, with Tsukune right behind him. As the two were now outside, they were amazed to see what was going on.

In a field quite some distance away, a large level of dark energy was being unleashed. As it was, Tsukune used a pair of binoculars to get a better look at the situation. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates when he saw large vines emerging from the ground, only for them to wrap themselves around each other to make themselves into another form.

"Uh… Ethan? We got a problem." Tsukune said with a hint of panic in his voice.

"That's putting it lightly."

Tsukune practically jumped out of his skin from the sudden voice, while Ethan calmly turned around, only to raise his brow upon seeing the bus driver. His surprise was then followed by irritation.

"I thought you were with the girls." Ethan said.

"Yeah, I was." The driver said before pulling out a cigar and lighting it. "Thought you guys might want a ride over to where the fun's going on."

Ethan looked back over to where he saw the dark energy, a slight sliver of panic running through him when he saw a large, plant-based monster forming. It looked like a bunch of vines wrapped together to make some sort of titan.

"That doesn't look good." Ethan blurted out loud.

"It sure ain't." the driver said. "The woman was stupid enough to unleash forbidden magic, the type that can control the caster, make them into the devil-incarnate, practically, or kill them as a price for casting it in the first place."

"That doesn't sound very nice." Tsukune said, who now had gone as white as a sheet.

"And the girls are right in the middle of it." Ethan said, now concerned that this may be more than they could handle alone. He turned back towards the bus driver. "How fast can you get us there?"

The driver smiled. "Depends on how much you value your lives over theirs." He said grimly.

Ethan smiled. "That fast, huh?" he quipped. He then looked over at Tsukune. "You coming'?"

Tsukune, who had recovered from the shock after hearing that the girls could be in trouble, looked over at Ethan and nodded assertively. "Yeah. I'll do whatever it takes to help them."

The pyromancer gave Tsukune a small grin. While Ethan certainly gave Tsukune a hard time every now and then, there was no denying that the average joe had an extraordinary drive to help those in need.

The driver gave a subtle, yet grim, laugh before saying "All aboard."

…

"What the hell is that?" Mizore asked with genuine surprise.

After the aura had finally faded, the whole group was shocked to see that in the place of Ruby's master was a large, plant-like monsters. This one, however, wasn't like the ones that she sent out to attack the students. This one was essentially an enormous Venus fly-trap with several, large tendrils emerging from all parts of its body. The mouth of the creature was wide open, revealing the Elder Witch's upper half; her lower half seemed to have merged with the being she just formed, making them into one.

Kurumu's mind went completely blank upon first seeing the creature, having difficulty comprehending what she just saw. After making a quick recovery, she managed to say "Uh… what's that?"

"It's forbidden magic!" Ruby cried, having been knocked back onto the ground. "She needs to be stopped as soon as possible. If she doesn't revert to her normal form, she will lose herself to the dark magic and never return!"

The Elder Witch stretched out her hands out as far as she could reach, causing five tendrils on each side of her to stretch out. After taking in a deep breath, she whipped her arms forward, followed by the tendrils shooting towards the group, all aiming to kill.

"LOOK OUT!" Moka yelled, quickly grabbing onto Yukari and launching herself into the air, evading the tendrils that were sent her way. Mizore slammed her palms into the ground and formed a large block of ice that shielded her from the attack, Kurumu flew up into the air, but Mathias shot towards Ruby, picking her up bridal style and coating them both in his dark aura. As one of the tendrils was about to land a hit, the two warped from where they were standing, now positioned a good distance behind the creature before them.

Mathias looked at the creature and raised his brow in surprise. "Yikes. The woman's either desperate or demented to try something like this." He said. He then looked over at Ruby. "No offence."

Ruby got back onto her feet. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight before them. Her master had always told her about the dangers of using forbidden magic, how it can destroy the caster. And now, she was seeing… no, she could _feel_ her master being destroyed from the inside out.

"Master…" Ruby said under her breath.

As if on cue, the creature turned around to face the younger witch and the reaper, revealing Ruby's master within. However, there was nothing of the woman she once knew, instead replaced with an animalistic rage.

" **YOU BETRAYED ME, RUBY!** " she cried. At the point where her body had merged with the creature, rested her tome, where the gem embedded in the cover was glowing more brightly than before. " **YOU WILL DIE WITH THOSE WHO DEFY MY WILL!** " she added before her hands glowed with energy. A split second later, her hands shot out at Ruby, firing a condensed beam of magical energy at her apprentice.

Mathias stepped in between them, summoning his scythe and spun it in the motion of a propeller, acting as a shield against the attack. However, the force was enough to send him skidding back. He accidentally bumped into Ruby, but she had clung onto Mathias as he was sent backwards. When he stopped, he looked back at Ruby and gave a quick apology. As he looked back at the creature, he gritted his teeth.

"You've got to be kidding me. I had and easier time going one on one with DRAKE for God's sake." He yelled.

"Her magic is increasing at a rapid rate. The longer she's in that form, the stronger she becomes." Ruby explained.

Mathias now had a bull's rage building within him. While he was a calm person in general, he was a sore loser when it came to fights. He felt even more irritated that the sorry excuse for a witch was using forbidden magic to get the better of them.

And that's when he remembered something important. As he did, his malevolent smile resurfaced. "Well… if we can't win our way… let's play by _her_ rules." He said. He outstretched his free hand and a dark mist appeared. He grasped at the mist, causing it to form into Ethan's staff.

Ruby widened her eyes when she saw the staff. "I-Isn't that Ethan's?" she asked.

Mathias nodded. "Needed to borrow it in case things got out of hand." He said. "You see, this puppy is an old artifact that has two effects. The first is to allow one more control over their abilities, handy if you only just unlocked your power."

A familiar golden light shun around the staff. Mathias tightened his grip on the staff as she continued. "And the other… is to allow its wielder to unlock their full potential with their powers. A power so great it had to be sealed off." He finished, his eyes directed at where the pentagram seal had once been.

At that moment, the staff vanished, in its place was a more concentrated amount of golden aura. The aura then began to wrap itself around Mathias' arm, followed by the rest of his body. The young reaper felt his body flaring with pain as the aura circled around him, feeling how the aura was merging itself with him. However, he didn't show it. In fact, he welcomed the pain, knowing that the end result would give them a chance.

His scythe soon glowed with the same aura, however, unlike Mathias, the aura completely engulfed the weapon. After it was completely covered, Mathias' scythe began to change its shape under the cover, changes that caused the Shinigami to raise an eyebrow.

When the aura faded, the weapon had been completely remodeled. The simple black handle had been replace with a curved handle that looked to be the shape of a black bone. At the top of the bone handle there was what seemed to be a small spine that was curved like a quarter of a circle, the other end being connected to a skull that had several cracks in it. Sticking out from the back of the skull was the scythe blade, which had become longer, double edged and serrated.

The scythe was certainly more intimidating than before.

Mathias casually examined the weapon for a moment, surprised at the changes. "Damn. Wasn't expecting this."

Ruby marveled at the weapon, feeling the sheer amount of dark energy pouring out. However, it was short-lived, as she saw magic circled appearing on the ground behind him.

"Behind You!" Ruby exclaimed.

Mathias responded instantly. He turned to see more plant monsters leaping at him. With another quick spin, he sliced the monsters in half. Inwardly, he was surprised with how light the weapon felt despite the added material.

He looked back to inspect the damage, only to see a wave of dark energy flying up towards Ruby's former master. The Elder witch formed a barrier to defend herself from the attack, only for it to shatter upon the energy's impact. The energy faded away before it could hit her, but there was no denying the power from that attack.

The Elder witch lost the look of rage in her eyes for a moment, instead having curiosity flow through her. This power wasn't anything like she had seen before.

" **That power… where did he acquire it?** " she thought to herself. Her face then looked sterner than before, raising her hand, summoning more tendrils from her form. " **That is the power I need. The power to destroy all th-** "

Before she could finished what she was saying, the head of the creature she had formed was struck from behind, causing the creature to bend forward in response. Before the master could react any further, it was then struck on its left side, then its right, followed by strike from underneath, causing the creature to lean backwards.

"Is this all you have to offer?"

Moka then appeared right in front of the master. Landing on the edge of the creature's mouth, she grabbed onto the Elder Witch's throat, her eyes now flaring scarlet with rage.

"You dare call yourself a master when you can't even control your own magic!?" she raised her free hand, ready to land a fatal blow to the witch.

" **It wouldn't be wise to underestimate me.** " The Elder witch replied.

As Moka was about to land the hit, a tendril got in between them and swiped Moka away. Seeing this, Ruby summoned her wings and shot towards Moka, hoping to catch her. Instead, another tendril shot at Ruby and wrapped itself around her, leaving her trapped.

Moka spun in the air and landed on her feet with ease, looking up to see Ruby trapped in the vines.

"Release her!" Moka exclaimed.

Mathias warped up into the air, a few meters away from Ruby and swung his scythe, hoping to create the same wave of energy he just made before. Unfortunately, a barrier appeared before Ruby. Instead of shattering, the shield managed to absorb the attack, followed by shooting the same wave of energy out at Mathias.

"REFLECTOR SHIELD!" he yelled comically before receiving the full blow from the attack. He wasn't physically injured, but it was enough to send him flying back towards the ground.

Moka looked at the reaper with mild disgust. "You're just as much an idiot as this witch." She said before turning her attention back to Ruby.

" **Ruby…** " the master said. " **It is time to receive your punishment for your betrayal. If you will not join me in the battle, then I shall take your power for myself**."

An opening opened up at the top of the creature's head, with several sharp teeth spiraling around from within. When Ruby saw this, she went as pale as a sheet, fearing what is to come.

"No… no, PLEASE! MASTER, STOP!" Ruby cried.

"OH NO YOU DON'T"

Several balls of flame passed Ruby, all of them having made their way into the mouth on top of the creature's head. Two seconds after they entered, the sounds of explosions could be heard from within, followed by a blast of fire to shoot out from the mouth. The Elder witch cried out in pain as she felt the fire burning inside of her.

Ruby looked around, her eyes then seeing the sight of Ethan grabbing onto the vine that trapped her to dear life, his flame gauntlets burning through the vine.

"ETHAN!?" Ruby cried.

The pyromancer looked over at Ruby, nodding towards her. "Hey, Ruby! How are things… aside from nearly being eaten alive?" he asked, hoping to lighten the mood.

Before Ruby could respond. Several smaller vines emerged from the larger vine, all of which wrapped themselves around Ruby, their grip much tighter and to the point that it was causing Ruby severe pain.

"GAAGH!" Ruby cried.

Ethan's eyes widened slightly, quickly followed by his eyes glowing. "LET HER GO!" Ethan released his grip on the vine and shot towards Ruby, allowing the flames to travel up his arms and to his shoulders. He slammed his fists together and allowed himself to spin around.

He had planned to slam his fists into the vine and obliterate it, freeing her. However, it was interrupted when two smaller vines appeared. Instead of wrapping themselves around his legs, they instead stabbed through them right through, anchoring themselves to him. Ethan felt the pain and gritted his teeth. The sudden distraction was enough for him to lose concentration and for his flames to extinguish. At that moment, two more vines appeared, each one grabbing one of Ethan's arms.

"Grr.. Feck, that hurts." Ethan said through his teeth, the pain surging through his legs.

As this was going on, Moka had continued to fight against the Elder witch, only to have her blows land on the tendrils, which seemed to be getting stronger by the second. This did nothing to hold back the vampiress, but prevented her from helping out Ruby and, much to her surprise, the recently present Ethan.

" _Ethan is struggling. It seems that he wasn't ready to fight after all._ " She thought.

She leapt high into the air, evading another strike from one of the tendrils, before spinning in the air and shot towards the Elder witch again, only for numerous tendrils to come between them, acting as a shield from Moka's attack.

Instead of leaping away from the creature, however, Moka soon lost her patience. She grabbed the tendrils, one by one, tearing them away from the barrier that was set up, bloodlust present in her eyes, inwardly angered that Ethan had been hurt.

She wouldn't admit it, but she did care about Tsukune, Ethan and the rest of the girls, having been the only people she had interacted with in a long time. As such, she would do anything necessary to keep them save.

"COME OUT AND FACE ME!" Moka roared.

Behind her, more vines had gathered behind her. As they did, instead of attacking her, the vines wrapped themselves around each other, forming into a new shape. In under a second, the vines had formed the upper half of the Elder witch.

She pointed her palm at the vampiress before saying " **BIND!** "

In that instant, Moka became as still as a statue. No matter how hard she tried, her body had completely seized up, preventing her from any form of movement.

"What's… what's happening to me?" she asked herself.

She was soon brought out of her thoughts when she felt a sharp pain in her right hip. She wasn't sure what had happened, but she had a fair idea when she felt a warm liquid slowly trailing down her side.

" **A Vampire… one of the most powerful monsters in existence.** " The Elder witch started. " **Born with the ability to convert their demonic aura into power, earning their reputation as the strongest creatures in existence. A power that would be most… useful.** "

"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!"

The Elder witch turned, seeing Tsukune in the middle of a group of plant monsters, using a firearm to hold back the monsters. The boy looked up angrily at the witch, a new-found temper rising after seeing her hurt. He wasn't able to help, as the creatures soon began increase in number.

The Elder witch simply ignored Tsukune, instead focusing on the vampiress. With a wave of her hand, the vine began draining blood from Moka, transferring it into the creature and, by extension, herself. With pride swelling up within her for having outsmarted an S-Class vampire, she turned back to Ruby and Ethan, a cruel smile present on her face.

" **Now… where were we?** "

The mouth on the top of the creature's head had healed, ready to consume its victims. Two more vines shot out from the mouth, each one wrapping themselves around their necks, securing their pray. Those vines then, with a fair bit of effort, granted, pulled Ruby and Ethan in.

"OH, YOU COMPLETE BI-"

Before Ethan could finish what he was saying, he and Ruby were swallowed whole.

The Elder witch's body immediately react, having consumed two powerful beings. A pink and gold aura formed around her torso, showing that their strength was becoming her own. Soon, a hint of red was appearing, showing that the silver-haired vampiress' power was also becoming her own. As the overwhelming power flowed through her, she let off a maniacal laughter that caught the attention of Tsukune.

After having managed to get some distance between him and the monsters, Tsukune had looked up to see the aura around the Elder witch, her power even obvious to Tsukune. He recognized the gold color in her aura, added with the blood-stained vines not too far away from her, he realized what had happened.

"No… no… it…" was all he managed to say, as the color drained from his face.

The Elder witch pointed her hand up into the air, a look of triumph present on her face.

" **At last… I will wipe the humans off the face of the earth.** "

 **Uh ooooooh. Looks like the newspaper club are in a spot of trouble. The big question here, now that Ruby's master now has Ruby, Moka and Ethan's power all at once, how will the gang be able to handle her. Even with the power boost Mathias got from the staff's real power, it's going to be a hassle. However, there's going to be a major spin in the works that may turn the tides of the fight. As to what it is, well, you'll see in the next chapter.**

 **Right, before I leave, I need to say something. You know when you see people posting things on social media, commenting on videos, etc. That's all well and good, but there are some people who say things that are so toxic they would need a skull and crossbones symbol to label them. It drives me up the wall because people think that the anonymity gives them the right say such bad thinks. The reason I'm talking about this was because that I was reading a few fanfics a while ago to clear my head, and one of the reviews… let's just say that what was said just really bothered me. I just wish that people wouldn't be be like that, is all.**

 **Sorry for bringing it up, but I felt that it was a topic that needed to be pointed out.**

 **Right, with that, I'm going to sign off. Hope you have a nice day, and see you later.**

 **P.S.**

 **Matt: To answer your question, I had decided to follow the anime story, which is why I didn't write in the other stuff. However, they are going to me an appearance. I won't say how, but they will. Hope that answers your question.**


	16. War on the Witch's Hill Finale

**Hi everyone, hope you're all having a good day. Before we begin, looks like I was right. So long as I focus on one story at a time in between uploads instead of a load, it gets better results… and way fewer headaches. Well, there isn't much to say until the end of the story, other than a big thanks for taking the time to read it and that I'm happy to see that s many people enjoyed it. You're all sound.**

 **Right, let's get into the story, hope you like it.**

Ethan felt his legs roaring in pain as he was slowly regaining consciousness. At first, his vision was blurry, but as it slowly returned to normal, he turned his head from side to side, wanting to know where he was. When his vision finally recovered, he widened his eyes after seeing where he was.

"What… the…" Ethan started.

Currently, Ethan was lying in a shallow pool of some kind of liquid, while seeming to be trapped in some kind of chamber with fleshy walls. It didn't help that there was a foul smell coming from all corners.

"What the hell is this place!?" he yelled.

"E… Ethan?"

Ethan's eyes widened at the mention of his name, turning his head to see the semi-conscious form of Ruby resting in the shallow pool as well.

"Ruby!" he exclaimed. He tried to get onto his feet, but as he did, his legs gave way, causing him to collapse back down and roar out in pain. At the sound of his screaming, Ruby had fully woken up and moved quickly up to him.

Ethan grabbed onto one of his legs. As he did, he felt that the area he was holding felt a little… slimy and unpleasant. He looked down and saw that there was a severe, bloody wound in his leg. He looked at the other leg, seeing that there was a similar wound present.

As he saw these wounds the memories of what had happened before returned to him. Trying to fight off the monster that Ruby's master had become, the vines piercing his legs to restrain him and…

"Aw for feck's sake." Ethan instinctively said out loud as he remembered that he and Ruby were eaten alive. He looked over to Ruby. "Tell me this isn't happening."

"I wish I could tell you different." Ruby said, seemingly just as unhappy, but not as expressive, as Ethan. She looked closely at the wound and, after a couple of seconds, nodded her head. "I should be able to heal the wounds. Just stay still for a bit." She said.

While not particularly happy about being told what to do, Ethan nodded in agreement. Ruby joined her two hands together, before muttering a few words to herself. What followed was a large sphere of green light glowing, enveloping the hands. Ruby separated her hands, creating two spheres that were smaller in size compared to the original. Gently, she placed a hand on each leg, ignoring the slight hisses of pain coming from the pyromancer.

"Ow! Could you be a little more gentle?" he asked.

Ruby looked a little hurt after Ethan said that. "I'm sorry."

Ethan was silent for a moment before sighing and said "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be snipping at you, but, it's just bloody sore."

"It's okay." Ruby said. "I understand.

AS Ruby was healing Ethan wounds, she looked up at him, a slight shiver going down her spine as she remembered how severe he was with her in the tent. At this point, she was a little afraid to ask him what was on her mind.

"If you have something to ask, ask it." Ethan stated.

Ruby widened her eyes. Ethan hadn't been looking at her at all, but he was able to tell all the same. Either way, she knew it was best to answer him.

"I… why did you save me?" she asked. "Earlier… you seemed to see me as a threat. Why risk your life to save mine?"

Ethan smirked before answering. "Well… to be honest, I still don't fully trust you." He admitted. "But, Yukari was worried as hell about you, and I knew that she would be crushed if anything happened to you."

Ruby widened her eyes at that comment. She was both amazed and and confused that, despite what she had done, that the little witch was worried for her.

"And not just her." Ethan continued. "The rest of the group, after our first get together in the tent, saw you as a potential friend. Because of that, they were worried for you, since they're the kind of people that always look out for their friends."

"… Would you… consider me a friend?" she asked him.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe… in the future. To be honest, Yukari, Kurumu and Mizore all actually tried to cause me, Tsukune and Moka hardship before they became our friends. Moka and Tsukune are a forgiving pair, and I eventually learned to see the good in them too."

He looked over at Ruby and leaned forward. "If you wish to prove yourself a friend, do what you can to prove it. Otherwise, I promise that things won't end well for you." He finished honestly.

Despite the threat, Ruby smiled and nodded gratefully at him. "Thank you."

After a few more seconds, the wounds had finally healed. Ruby lowered her hand and rested them on her lap, feeling a little tired out after putting so much effort into healing him. Ethan outstretched his legs to get a better view, greatly impressed to see that his legs looked like that they were never wounded. He stood up and walked over to Ruby. He held out a helping hand to her, to which she happily accepted.

When she was on her feet, Ethan placed both his hands on his hips as he looked around, trying to find a way out of here.

"So, any thoughts on how to get out of here?" Ethan asked.

"Um…" Ruby had one idea. "Well, it's a digestive system, so I think we could-"

Before she could finish, Ethan ignited a fist and held it over her face, causing her to back away. She looked over at Ethan's face, which showed a serious and displeased expression.

"I know where you're going… and, sure as FECK, it is not going to happen." She said, not liking the idea as coming out as a piece of excrement.

The horrific image was taken out of Ethan's mind when he looked back at his fist, surprised to see the flame dying down. He tightened his fist and tried to put as much power into the flame, but it wouldn't respond.

"That's weird. My flame's gotten weaker." He said to Ruby.

Ruby looked a little crestfallen as she had a theory as to what is going on. "I think… that it's because my… my master is using our power to increase hers."

Ethan looked back at Ruby with a look of surprise on his face. "What? How's she doing that, exactly? It's not like we're hooked up to any wires or anything."

Ruby looked down at the shallow pool that they were standing in. Confused, Ethan also looked down, seeing that that around where the water currently met his legs, there was an orange ring present in the water. He looked over at Ruby, seeing that there was a pink ring surrounding Ruby's skirt, what was in the water. Connecting the dots, Ethan frowned.

"Stomach acid that sucks magic instead of digesting food?" he asked, to which Ruby replied. Ethan huffed before saying. "What will they think of next?"

Ruby looked around the massive bag of 'acid', wanting find a way out. she knew that if either of them tried to use their powers, they would only be drained, making them weaker. As she looked around, her eyes spotted something slowly making its way into the stomach.

"Ethan, look." She said, pointing towards what had drawn her attention.

The pyromancer looked up, seeing a stream of red liquid pouring into the stomach. As it landed within the pool, the acid suddenly changed to a strong shade of scarlet, briefly pulsing a bright ink every few seconds. Ruby looked at the acid with slight awe, surprised to see it acting like this.

She looked back up at the red liquid that was pouring down. "What is that…?"

"Blood." Ethan stated, causing Ruby to turn to him. "It's blood. And if I'm right, judging by the power it's giving off…" he pointed towards the pool of scarlet acid as he spoke. "I think it's Moka's."

"Moka? As in… oh god." Ruby said, becoming noticeably pale as she connected the dots.

Ethan shook his head and glared at the stream. "That sorry excuse for a witch is stealing our powers to give herself an edge in the fight." He said. after a couple of seconds of silence, he made a small grin. "I ain't sure whether to be impressed or disappointed, having to go through that effort for us."

"Well we can't just sit here and do nothing." Ruby pointed out. "If we stay here, she'll just become more powerful, but we can't use our powers because it'll spped up the draining."

"You're kind of contradicting yourself there, aren't you?" Ethan pointed out, causing Ruby to blush. Ethan looked back towards the stream of blood.

His face formed a look of malice as he came up with on of the most risky and dangerous plans he ever came up with.

"I'd imagine… despite the fact she's draining us of our power, she has a limit that she can't go beyond, right?"

Ruby looked at Ethan with a confused expression. "Huh? Um… I guess."

"So… all we need do is use so much power that she won't be able to hold it, and we can escape." Ethan continued, his expression becoming darker by the second.

At this point, Ruby was becoming even more confused. "Ethan how are we supposed to build up that much power when we're… wait. Ethan? What are you doing. Ethan… ETHAN STOP!"

….

Tsukune fired the rounds of his firearm at the Elder witch, each time watching as she summoned a barrier to fend off the projectiles.

As of now, Ethan was terrified. His best friend was eaten alive, and the woman he cared for was being drained dry of her blood. All he was able to do at the moment was try to fend off the beast, hoping that he could save her.

Eventually, he saw that the bullets were doing nothing against the witch. He cursed himself as he thought about what to do next.

" _What do I do? I can't hurt Ruby's master, she keeps making shields. I could try and shoot Moka down, but what if I hit her instead. I can't believe this is happening. What do I do!?_ "

"You put up a fair effort, lad."

Tsukune was brought out of his thoughts upon hearing the voice. He turned to see what it was, but was instead met with the sight of several waves of black energy flying past him. Tsukune turned back to see one of the waves slicing through the vines that held Moka, while the rest were aimed at the Elder witch. Seeing this, she formed more barriers, hoping that it would defend her from the attack.

However, the first of these waves shattered the barrier. The rest each managed to strike the Elder witch. Seemingly, there was no physical damage, but from the way that she was screaming, those attacks had been more than effective.

" **What… what is this?** " the Elder with asked in surprise.

As if to answer the question, Mathias appeared, warping beside Tsukune as he held his improved scythe in his hand, a cocky smile forming on his face.

"Well, simply put, when a Shinigami becomes powerful enough, they can aim their attacks at the most valuable part of a living thing." Mathias started.

He then warped up to the left of the creature, grinning as he swung his scythe. As he did, the eyes of the skull glowed crimsom, followed by the blade becoming coated with dark energy. When Mathias fully swung the weapon, the energy was sent flying towards the monster. However, the attack only phased through the beast, making its way towards the Elder witch, striking her in the shoulder, resulting in an ear piercing scream.

"Geez." Mathias said as he rubbed his ear. "She's got some lungs on her, hasn't she?"

Tsukune looked at the reaper in confusion. "Mathias, what are you talking about? What's the valuable target you're talking about?"

Mathias grinned wickedly before answering. "The soul."

"… What?" Tsukune asked weakly.

The eyes in the skull glowed again, before Mathias was soon surrounded by the dark energy lie an aura. "The body is more resilient than one thinks. Give it time, and they will heal…. However…" Mathias spun the scythe around and rested the bone-handle on his shoulder. "The soul can ever heal. Hence, it's the best target to go for."

The Elder witch roared again before firing a blast of energy at the reaper. To counter, Mathias spun the weapon around and lunged at her like he was holding a sword. As he did, the spine that connected the handle to the skull bent backwards, pointing the scythe blade up, forming it into an over-sized lance. Mathias struck the center of the beam, causing it to disperse, saving him and Tsukune from the attack.

Mathias then back-stepped, getting some distance between him and the Elder witch. Holding the weapon like a baseball bat, he swung it again. Only this time, the spine expanded, growing in length, allowing Mathias a greater range of attack with the weapon.

He had aimed for the witch, but instead the creature rose and arm up in defense, blocking the attack. As the Blade remained trapped behind the creature's arm, the Elder witch smiled cruelly at the reaper.

" **Such foolishness. Not willing to use all the power you unlocked.** "

In response, Mathias offered a dark, toothy smile. He then twisted the handle and, with all his might and as much dark energy as he could muster, he pulled the weapon back. The blade sliced right through the monster's arm like butter, causing the Elder witch to cry out in pain once more.

"What's foolish is believing that power is the only weapon to use in a fight." Mathias said back to her.

Mathias was about to make another move, this time wanting to test out a specific move on her. However, he was interrupted when ice suddenly started to emerge from the soil, encasing the lower half of the monster.

"Huh?" Mathias said in confusion.

Tsukune beamed as he realized what was going on. "MIZORE!" he yelled with enthusiasm.

"Yes, love?"

Tsukune jumped a foot into the air from the sudden surprise. He turned to see the snow woman, slightly bruised, but nevertheless, safe and sound.

"Thank goodness you're alright." Tsukune said after calming down.

At that, the snow woman blushed, her heart doing back-flips as she saw how concerned for her he was. "Thank you… but, we're not safe yet."

The creature shattered the ice that was trapping it. The Elder focused her sight on the three individuals standing before her. Channelling her new strength, she imbued some of it into the remaining arm of the creature. The creature raised its fist, ready to crush the teens. However, before it got the chance, a volley of iron Tarot Cards flew down, embedding themselves into the creature. With the sudden distraction, the Elder witch didn't notice the figure flying by, slicing several pieces off the monster she controlled.

Kurumu flew back to Mizore, Tsukune and Mathias, with Yukari appearing right beside the reaper. The Succubus and the witch both leapt at Tsukune, hugging him as tightly as possible.

"Oh, Tsukune! We were so worried. I hope you're not hurt, my destined one." Kurumu exclaimed.

"Don't worry, Tsukune. I'm here now, you've nothing to worry about." Yukari said.

At that point, both Kurumu and Yukari glared at each other, both not liking the other trying to get at Tsukune. It was at that point where they all felt the temperature going down a few degrees. They all turned to Mizore, who was holding up both her ice claws, clearly not happy with the attention the two girls were giving Tsukune.

"Tsukune's mine." Mizore said to Kurumu and Yukari.

"Like HELL I'd hand him over to you!" the two yelled simultaneously, followed by them glaring at each other again.

Mathias raised his brow in surprise. He looked over to Tsukune and asked "Does this happen a lot?"

"More than I'd like." Tsukune said as comical tears streamed down his face.

" **ENOOOOOUGH!** "

Several vines shot out of the ground where the the group stood. The girls managed to avoid them within the split second, while Mathias quickly pulled Tsukune out of the way, saving him from being skewered again. Mathias looked up at the creature, a smirk forming on his face as he came up with an idea.

"Time to test it out." he said out loud. Spinning the scythe a few times, he moved his hand up to the base of the spine, turned the weapon so that the skull would face the creature, and stuck the bottom of the handle into the ground.

With a grin of malice, he chuckled slightly before saying " **Subterfuge.** "

After saying that, the skull's eyes glowed once again. Only this time, the mouth opened, vomiting a pitch black smoke that encased the upper half of the creature. When the smoke had finished dispersing, what had been released soon began to move in an irregular fashion. After a few seconds, the smoke faded, revealing the creature to be unharmed, but for the Elder witch's eyes to have completely changed to the shade of the smoke.

" **What… WHAT IS HAPPENING! I'M BLIND!** " she screamed in panic.

With that, Mathias readied himself. He focused his attention on the mid-section of the creature, where he assumed that the stomach was. With the witch distracted, he would slice open the creature and pull out Ruby and Ethan as quickly as possible.

"Here we go." Mathias said calmly, albeit with a maniac grin on his face. With that, he lept from the ground, spinning himself around like a buzz-saw, ready to land the attack.

"Hold on guys, help's on the-"

Mathias didn't get the chance to finish. Instead, a sudden blast of silver light burst out from where Mathias was aiming, knocking him away from the beast. He spun around mid-air, regaining his composure, landing on his feet easily. He looked up to see what it was, only to end up gawking at an eruption of silver fire.

"What the heck is that?" Mathias asked out loud.

Unknown to him, Moka had walked up behind him. After she had been cut down, she needed time to rest before getting back into the fight. Having lost a large amount of blood would do that to a vampire. As she looked up at the fire, she herself was confused as to what was going on.

"Its strange." She said, starling Mathias. She ignored him as she continued on. "If this was Ethan, his flames should be orange, not silver."

Mathias looked back at the flames. He was surprised when a large sphere of flames burst out of the creature, causing the Elder witch to howl in agony. The sphere landed not too far away from the monster, coming to a complete halt after hitting the ground.

Within a few seconds, the flames became more volatile, so much so that they dispersed from the level of pressure that was building up. That was when the sight of Ethan, with his hair now a brighter shade of white, stood tall, his head lowered and eyes closed, while Ruby also stood by his side, her wings unleashed and glowing with pink aura.

Tsukune and the rest of the girls all saw the two escapees. Filled with joy, they started to run towards them. However, without looking up, Ethan shot a hand up at them, telling them to stop.

"Don't get any closer." Ethan said.

At first, the group didn't understand what was going on. Then, a silver aura began to build up around Ethan, flickering like fire. The pyromancer slowly lifted his head up in the direction of the Elder witch.

Ethan snapped his eyes open, revealing a pair of scarlet eyes with slitted pupils. He grinned confidently at the Elder witch, revealing a pair of fangs.

Said witch looked at the boy with a mixture of awe and horror. " **Impossible… that power… you have the power of a vampire!** "

Ethan began to stretch his muscles, calmly preparing himself for a fight. As he did, he said. "Well, considering that vampiric blood was pouring down in front of me, I tho **ught I'd take the opportunity to get a bit of a booster. After all, as the old saying goes…** " Ethan outstretched his arms, forming silver flame gauntlets.

" **Why not?** "

(Music: 'Beast Mode' - Teminite)

The Elder witch was angered by this. She summoned more vines from the creature, this time coating them with a dark aura, then sent them straight for the pyromancer. Ethan, seemingly calm and eager at the woman's attempt, clicked his fingers ad summoned a flame grenade. He casually threw it up into the air, straight up at the vines.

When the grenade was close enough, the grenade split, turning into small spheres of silver flames. A split second later, the spheres exploded, each one causing the same, if not more, level of damage to the incoming vines.

Ethan looked behind him. His eyes caught the sight of various plant monsters charging towards him with intent to kill. Smirking, Ethan dismissed the flame gauntlets. Wanting to test out a new ability, the silver aura began to intensify.

When he was sure he was ready, Ethan spun around and swung his leg at the small army. Much to his surprise, the momentum created a powerful shockwave that obliterated them all. As Ethan looked at the remaining carnage, he couldn't help but release a small giggle from the small surprise.

However, Tsukune and the girls, aside from the silver-haired vampiress, all looked at Ethan wide-eyed and with their jaws to the floor. Mathias grinned widely and was clapping his hands, applauding the power being displayed before him.

Moka, while indeed in awe, was more suspicious at the level of power being displayed. Even when she was younger, only just learning how to use her abilities, even _she_ had difficulty mastering them… not that she'd admit it. And yet, Ethan was using the power of a vampire to fight off the Elder witch and her plant minions with little effort.

If anything, she was both impressed and jealous.

As Ethan thought, a thought occurred to him.

" _ **This power… I got it after drinking Moka's blood. But… despite how tough she is, I never felt this much energy come off of her before… she never held, or maybe just never used, this kind of power.**_ " He briefly looked over in the direction of the vampiress. " _ **The vampires may be strong, but you're definitely a whole different ball game, Akashiya.**_ "

As Yukari looked on, her peripheral vision caught something. She looked, only to yelp in response and yell "ETHAN! BEHIND YOU!"

The pyromancer heard Yukari's words. He quickly turned to see the creature that housed the Elder witch charging towards him. The creature's remaining arm was raised up as far as it could reach, quickly bringing it down towards the pyromancer.

Ethan raised both his hands into the air, the palms making contact with the giant fist. Upon impact, it created a shockwave that sent everything nearby into the air, aside from the newspaper club and the Shinigami. The Elder witch commanded the creature to push down as hard as it could, wanting it to crush the boy like the insect she believed him to be.

Ethan, while making sure that the creature didn't crush him, quickly scanned the creature over, looking for any weaknesses to exploit. His eyes then caught the interesting sight of the bottom of the creature. At this, Ethan smiled.

" **You hitched up your roots to walk?** " Ethan asked out loud, seeing the vines, once embedded into the ground, now acting as legs for mobility. However, Ethan only sighed and shook his head in disappointment. " **How can a woman as stupid as yourself have been able to train Ruby?** "

Offended by the comment, the Elder witch was about to say something. Instead, she received th shock of her life when the creature, and her along with it, were suddenly thrusted up into the air, with Ethan now keeping a firm grasp on the creature's fist.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Kurumu couldn't help but blurt out.

"Whoa." Mizore said.

"Something THAT BIG!?" Tsukune added.

Ethan smirked at the comments. Summoning the new, silver flame once more, it made contact with the creature through the hand that lifted it. The flames quickly travelled all over the creature, as if it had been covered in gasoline before. Within seconds, the beast was coated with fire, burning and scarring both it and the Elder witch.

As she howled in agony, she also screamed " **YOU BASTARD! YOU GOD FORSAKEN CURSE! I WILL KILL YOU!** "

Ethan rolled his eyes. " **If I had a Yen for every time I heard that.** " he said out loud. After taking in a deep breath, he pulled down on the fist, and he slammed the creature into the ground. With the vampiric strength added with his own, he was able to leave a deep imprint into the soil.

Soon after, Ethan grabbed the very top of the creature, coating his hand with more fire as he did so. He pulled the creature out, just enough to expose the mouth that swallowed both him and Ruby up. Using the fire, he seared through the creature's flesh. The idea was to make it feel enough pain to get it to open its mouth. Luckily, the creature did, indeed, open it's mouth, bellowing in pain.

Taking the opportunity, Ethan pointed his free hand directly at the exposed area.

" **Bon appetite.** "

With that, Ethan fired a pillar of flame directly into the creature. It didn't penetrate through the other side, but instead the flames travelled through the creature, burning it alive from the inside. The flames also traveled into Ruby's former master; having been dealt so many attacks already, instead of feeling pain, she instead felt rage for every time she got hit.

Despite her rage increasing, her body was weakening. She was close to her limit, ans she knew that she would lose if she didn't do something soon. Eventually, deciding that it was the only option, she closed her eyes and concentrated, her tome glowing once more.

" **It seems I have no choice. If I cannot stop the humans… I will kill them all with me.** " She looked over at the pyromancer. " **Even with your power, you cannot hope to defeat me. After so many years, the humans will finally-** "

Before she could finish, streams of red mist were firing out of Ethan. As they did, his hair and eyes reverted to their original forms, and the fire went back to its original orange. Ethan smirked. He saw the confused looked on the Elder witch's face, surprised, shocked…

Distracted.

"You're move Ruby!" Ethan yelled.

The Elder witch didn't get a chance to react to what Ethan said. Instead, she heard the sound of something slicing through the air. She looked at her body, afraid that she was struck. She found herself unharmed. She looked around, seeing the creature unharmed. She looked back at Ethan, who wore a cocky smile and seemed to be pointing towards something.

Following the direction of the finger, she looked down and saw, much to her bone-chilling horror, saw large, sharp raven feathers embedded into her tome.

(Music End)

"… **What… what is this**?" the Elder witch asked. Seeming to have difficulty processing what was happening.

Ruby appeared over Ethan, using her wings to hover over him. "I aimed for your tome. By destroying your tome, you wouldn't be able to use your magic." She explained. Her face turned to one of remorse before speaking on. "It was the only way to stop you."

After a brief moment of silence, the Elder witch gritted her teeth and roared " **RUBY! WHAT HAVE TO DONE!?** "

Ethan was about to make a smart comment when the ground suddenly shook. He was able to keep his balance, while the newspaper club lost theirs and fell to the ground from the sudden surprise. Only the inner Moka and Mathias still stood.

Following that, the entire creature began to glow. As the light grew brighter, parts of the creature began to bulge, as if something was about to burst out of it.

"What the feck? What's going on with her?" Ethan asked calmly.

Ruby paled as she realised what was happening. "She had built up a massive amount of power during the fight. The only way she was able to contain it was through her magic. But now, without that…"

Ethan widened his eyes as he also realised what was about to happen. "She's gonna BLOOOW!" he yelled.

At that, Kurumu and Mizore latched onto Tsukune, fearing for their lives, while Tsukune was fearing that the girls would kill him before the explosion. Yukari, on the other hand, having not needed to use her magic, had enough in store to create a barrier. Before she made it, however, she yelled for Ethan and Ruby to come over, as they wouldn't be able to get in once the barrier was formed.

Instantly, Ethan jumped up, grabbed Ruby by the wrist and blasted over to the club. Ruby tried to pull away, wanting to save her master, but Ethan wouldn't listen. He was only concerned with making sure his allies weren't killed in the blast.

When he finally arrived, Yukari quickly set up the barrier, a blue, transparent semi-sphere. Now safe, they all watched as the power within was trying to break free from its prison. The Elder witch could feel what was left of her being singed and torn to pieces on the inside.

"No… no, master…" Ruby said under her breath, streams of tears running down her cheeks. Despite what she had done, she was Ruby's remaining family. Seeing the pain that she was going through, Moka placed a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder.

" **So this… is how it ends…** " the Elder witch said to herself. " **At least… the humans will be destroyed. The amount of power within me… should be enough to-** "

The Elder witch was interrupted for the final time when the sound of air being sliced sang through the air. After the brief sound, the light faded from the creature, and the swollen pieces of the creature that appeared slowly faded away. Everyone went completely still, unsure of what might happen next.

"… What's… going on?" Ethan asked.

"I don't know." Tsukune commented. "Mathias knows wha… Mathias?"

Tsukune had looked behind him to ask if he knew what had happened just now, only to find that he wasn't behind Tsukune. In fact, he wasn't even in the barrier anymore.

"Where'd he go?" Mizore asked.

Kurumu looked in all directions. She kept doing so until something drew in her gaze back towards the Elder witch.

"Uh…guys?" Kurumu said while pointing up towards the witch.

Everyone looked up to see what was going on. Tsukune and Ethan certainly saw their fair share of abnormalities since being introduced to the monster wrld, present situation included. However, they were still stunned after seeing the Elder witch and the complete form slowly morph into stone. By the time it was finished, she was now just a large, very detailed piece of art.

"This… this is just wrecking my head in." Ethan said, collapsing to the ground and rubbing his forehead.

"Sorry to be causing you headaches."

The rest of the group was now alert. They all looked up to see Mathias sitting up on top of the statue, resting his usual scythe on his shoulder. As he sat there, Ruby looked up at the Shinigami. Part of her was shattered by what had happened to her master, but another was rattled with confusion, overwhelmed. As such, she charged over towards Mathias, only to slam up against the barrier. She tried pushing herself through as she yelled at him.

"What did you do to my master!?" Ruby exclaimed. "What happened to here!?"

Mathias clicked his fingers. In response, a pentagram appeared on the forehead of the creature. It glowed with a pale blue light, radiating with a u usual power that made Yukari and Ruby feel unwell.

"The Shinigami are pretty good at seals." Mathias explained. "At least, this way, the excess power won't destroy half of japan." He jumped off of the statue and landed with a roll. As he got back onto his feet, he looked at Ruby. This time, with an apologetic look, with (what Ethan thought impossible for Mathias to feel) regret.

"For what it's worth, Ruby… I am sorry." He said. He could tell how much she still cared for her master. But, nevertheless, he had to make a choice, and he made it.

It still didn't help Ruby in the slightest. After Mathias finished speaking, Ruby collapsed to the ground, silently weeping as she knew that she wouldn't be seeing her master again.

…

The fight had left all who were involved exhausted.

The bus driver had taken the liberty of calling in someone to move the massive statue so that it wouldn't be discovered by humans. Needless to say, it would raise a lot of questions if the item was found, something that everyone would rather not have to deal with.

Moka had been given back the rosary and had transformed back to her innocent form. However, before she did, she had questioned Ethan on how he had been able to use vampiric power to begin with. He told her that he consumed the blood that had been drained out of her by the Elder witch, hoping it would give him a boost.

When asked if he was a vampire now, he told them that it wasn't the case. He had burnt the blood out of his system the same way with the poison he had been dosed with. While being able to use that much power was an exhilarating experience, Ethan had told them that it just wasn't for him.

The inner Moka had accepted his answer. However, she still gave him a strong kick to the jaw. When the injured Ethan asked why, she stated that it was merciful punishment for those who drank to blood of a vampire without permission. As Ethan had been left groaning in pain, Tsukune couldn't help but laugh, seeing his friend on the other end of the stick.

Finally, as the group had gotten on the bus, Miss Nekonome made a reappearance, apparently carrying a large sack of fish. When she saw the gloomy expressions on the students, she became slightly worried.

"Huh? IS everything okay?" she asked.

"… Let's just say a lot happened while you were gone." Moka said.

The crew explained what had happened to them during the night. After Miss Nekonome heard this, she looked lie she was about to have a heart attack. But after she recovered (After Yukari hit her in the head with a water basin), the feline teacher promised the students that she would do what she could to help Ruby.

On the journey back, no one had said a word. The whole thing had been a shock for the majority of them. They didn't think that the divide between the two races could cause such harm. It only goes to show you that if you let your hatred for something fester and grow, you would only become the thing you hate most, the worst part of yourself.

Moka looked over at Ethan, who seemed lost in thought, resting the staff (which Mathias returned to him) on his lap.

"Ethan?" Moka said.

"Hm?" Ethan responded.

"… Why did you choose to help Ruby? I mean… you didn't…"

"Like her?" Ethan finished, to which Moka nodded. "I told her it was because you and the rest of the crew would be pissed with me if I didn't. which would've been true, let's be honest." He started, which made Moak smile slightly. "But… it was mainly because I empathized with her."

Moka didn't say anything at first, as she knew what Ethan was talking about.

"She and I both lost our families when we were small. We both hated the world and wanted the pain to end. I guess… it just made me want to help her."

Moka nodded in understanding. When she was younger she had lost her mother. It pained her that she wouldn't be able to see or speak with her, but what made it worse was that she didn't know how she was lost. It was like the memories had been wiped, but the pain was still embedded within her heart and soul, only making it worse for her.

She looked over towards Tsukune, who was resting his head against the window as he slept peacefully. He had been the first friend she had ever made, and she suspected that he might mean more to her than she can understand. The thought of losing him was something she wouldn't be able to cope with something like that.

"We shouldn't feel too bad though." Ethan said. "Keep in mind, while the Chairman is a sneaky bastard, he does what he can to help those who need it. Ruby'll be fine."

Moka nodded in agreement, knowing that something good would come out of this.

Ethan was nearly fell back into his thoughts when he suddenly remembered something. He turned back to Moka to ask her something, but before he could he hesitated. Quickly thinking it over, he decided against it, thinking now wasn't the time.

" _That power wasn't anything like the force the inner Moka used in her fights… or when she kicked me in the face._ " he thought, remembering the flow of power he felt after drinking Moka's blood. He had a feeling that Moka definitely had something about her that made her different… perhaps more dangerous that any living, breathing monster on the planet. The question was… what is it?

….

Mathias stood in Witch's hill, observing the clear blue sky that beheld itself to the area. Luckily, the field hadn't been damaged, as the remainder of the fight had occurred in a different area (something the Elder witch planned so that the hill wouldn't be damaged).

He still had an uneasy fielding about this place. While the magic was definitely gone from this place, the fact that it drove someone to murderous rage made made it something that Mathias believed wasn't worth existing.

However, in the end it wasn't for him to decide.

Having decided not to go to Yokai Academy with the newspaper club, Mathias took the opportunity to think about what he had seen. What had him most curious was the awing power that Moka displayed after Tsukune was wounded.

"Hmmm." He hummed. "Guess the bloodline didn't die out after all." He looked down towards the ground, bringing his hand into view as he clenched it into a fist.

"Guess it doesn't matter though. I'm sorry guys… but the Shinso must be eliminated."

 **Alright, we're going to leave it at that for the time being. In case anyone asks, I know that the ending was a little dark, but I wanted to try it out all the same.**

 **And yes, I decided to have Ethan drink Moka's blood to become super powerful. Originally, I planned to have his flames turn scarlet, like in the 'Study Problems' chapter, but I decided to switch it around.**

 **Right, before I sign off, just have one more thing to say.**

 **The next chapter of the story is going to be a filler chapter, a light-hearted one to make up for the dark ending. I already have something in mind, but thought I'd ask if anyone would like to see anything in particular in the chapter. If not, or if you'd rather not, then it's no problem at all, just thought it'd be fun.**

 **Okay, that's all from me for now. Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a review or PM for any feedback you might have, and hope you all have a nice day.**


	17. Half-Baked threat

**Hi everyone. Hope you're all well.**

 **In case some of you aren't aware, I had stated that I was only going to work on two chapters each for 'Sky Havoc in Remnant', 'Remnant of Shadows' and 'Fairy Tail: Dark Void'respectively, but after getting some writer's block on the second chapter on 'Remnant of Shadows'. I decided to work on a story I hadn't done in a while to try and clear my head. Just in case you're all wondering.**

 **Right, I won't say anymore, only that I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

After the whole incident with the Witch's Hill, which surprised many of the students in Yokai Academy after word spread, things were slowly getting back to normal.

After the newspaper club had arrived back, the Chairman gave them a few extra days off before they went back to class. He could tell that it had been a rough experience for them, and he knew it was best for them to take it easy, to help them recover, before they went back to work.

Ruby was the main concern of the group. Having lost her master and her home, and having to go against everything she was taught to believe in since she was young was such a traumatic experience for her. The Chairman promised that he would help, but… whether or not he could succeed would be another story in itself.

Ethan and Mizore weren't as severely affected as the others, Mizore since it was in her nature to stay cool, and Ethan because he expected this to happen after Ruby sided with them, so they did their part to make sure that the rest of the gang would be alright.

Of course, Ethan thought it was best to make sure that Mizore didn't get _too_ close to Tsukune during that time. Unsurprisingly, though, when she did so, it prompted the girls to start fighting over him again.

It turned out to be the best way to distract them from what had happened, though it also served two more purposes. Distracting Tsukune with the dilemma of having a number of women swooning over him, and the misfortune having well entertained Ethan, much to the point that he almost broke his ribs.

Needless to say, things were finally back to normal.

….

"Uuuughh…"

Tsukune was currently resting his face on one of the tables of the cafeteria, trying his best to recover after Moka had helped herself to some of his blood. It resulted in the poor boy feeling more exhausted than usual.

Ethan, on the other hand, was sitting beside his suffering friend, enjoying a fried chicken sandwich he made. Part of him wanted to try and cheer his friend up, and perhaps try and get Moka to cut down on the blood she's been draining from him…

But where would the fun in that be?

"You doin' okay?" Ethan asked before taking another bite from his food.

Tsukune slowly raised his head, struggling to move. "Yeah… I'm fine. Just give me a little more rest and I'll be okay." He said.

Ethan shook his head. "Seriously. The one girl you fall for and she's literally draining the life out of you." Ethan stated. "You sure know how to pick 'em, don't you?"

At that, Tsukune raised his head, his suddenly rejuvenated blood rising to his cheeks. "Huh? Uh, w-wait, what do you mean!?" Tsukune exclaimed, worried that Ethan was saying ehat he think he was saying.

"Don't play dumb with me, Aono." Ethan said while keeping his sights on his food. "I know for a fact that you're swooning over that girl… literally. Every time she drains you dry you've got that big goofy grin on your face and you keep whispering her name."

Tsukune's blush increased, not expecting himself to be so obvious. He sighed and rested his elbows on the table, followed by resting his head on his hands.

"Yeah… I do like her, but… I don't know what to do to get her to like me back."

Ethan was halfway close to taking another bite from his sandwich when he heard Tsukune say that. The pyromancer was close to smacking himself in the forehead from disbelief. The girl latches onto him every chance she gets, provided Kurumu doesn't beat her to it, and he couldn't pick up on the feelings she had towards him?

He was actually close to worrying about Tsukune's love life. Which was a first, since he wanted nothing to do with it.

Deciding not to spill the beans, since it wasn't his place to tell,he simply sighed.

"… Well? What are you going to do?"

Tsukune didn't answer at first. He began to think of various gestures he could do to confess to Moka, but he couldn't think of anything.

"Hmmm… Let's see…" after a moment of extra silence, he said "What kind of gift do you think she'd like?"

Ethan shrugged his shoulders. "Why are you asking me? She's your girlfriend."

Tsukune turned his head away, forming a pouting look on his face. "You're not helping."

"Who said I was trying to?" he asked.

Tsukune ignored him, trying to think of the different things he could do. Then, as fate would have it, his eyes caught the sight of a poster stuck to a nearby wall. He got up from the table and went over to it, curiosity getting the better of him. After reading the poster, his eyes soon began to sparkle.

"YES! This is what I was looking for!" he suddenly exclaimed.

Ethan got up from the table and walked over to Tsukune. "What's got you all happy all of a sudden?" he asked his friend.

Tsukune stepped to the side and pointed at the poster. "Look! One of the teachers is holding a baking class this Saturday. It says we'd learn how to make a cake of our own choosing."

"Class? On a Saturday?" Ethan asked, dumbfounded. "Feck that!" he said as he began to walk away.

"Don't you see, I can make a cake, something love themed, I think… would that be appropriate? Anyway, I can show her how much I feel about her through the cake. Genius, right?"

Ethan stopped and thought about Tsukune's idea for a moment. For once, it was an idea coming from Tsukune that he didn't particularly hate. Nothing says romance like sweets. However, there was one problem he noticed about the plan.

"Tsukune. Just one question." He started, which got Tsukune's attention. "How would the other girls feel if you try to do that?"

At that, Tsukune paled, his mind suddenly picturing an angry looking Kurumu, Yukari and Mizore respectively, all of which seemed ready to kill him. Seeing the look of panic on his friend's face, Ethan placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Relax. Look, if you really want to do this, go ahead. Love's all about taking risks, after all." He quipped.

Tsukune couldn't help but smile at Ethan's joke. He then raised his brow when he realized something. "Wait. So, what will you do this weekend?"

"If I'm lucky, avoid anymore fights with some maniacal student." Ethan said as he began to exit. He waved the back of his hand at Tsukune. "Later."

Tsukune, despite knowing wouldn't see him, nodded in response. "Later, Ethan."

As Ethan walked off, his expression suddenly became much more serious. " _Plus… there's something I need to check anyway._ "

….

Saturday eventually came. When it did, Tsukune had arrived at the designated classroom for the cooking class. He was looking forward to it but he was also nervous. He had only baked once before, and from what he could remember, it hadn't ended well… then again, perhaps his cousin wasn't the best person to be getting lessons from.

"Okay… here I go." He said to himself as he slid the door open. When he entered, he was surprised to see so many other boys in the classroom. There were a couple of girls there. But not as many he had been expecting.

Deciding not to ponder on it, he looked for an empty seat and sat down, looking down at the station to see all the things he would need.

"Hey. Here to bake as well?"

Tsukune turned his head and, much to his surprise, he saw Gin standing beside him.

"Huh? Gin? Why are you here?" Tsukune asked.

"Why do you think?" Gin said. "What guy wouldn't want o be here, considering who's teaching this thing."

At that, Tsukune became confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

At that, Gin's eyes widened in surprise. "Seriously? You don't know?" he asked, as if he had caught Tsukune committing a serious crime.

Tsukune was starting to get fed up. "Okay, Gin, would you please speak some sense. Who teachi-"

"HI EVERYOOOONE!"

As soon as Tsukune heard that voice, his heart momentarily stopped. He slowly turned around and, much to his horror, he saw Kurumu standing at the top of the room, apron in hand. Tsukune managed to put all that he knew together.

Needless to say, he was petrified.

"Alright, everyone." Kurumu started. "For those of you who don't know, the teacher who was supposed to give the lesson had to drop out for some reason. And, seeing how I had no plans, I kindly volunteered to take her place."

" _I hope she didn't actually take the teacher hostage instead._ " Tsukune thought, already well aware how far the bluenette could go sometimes to get what she wanted.

"So, for everyone here…" Kurumu then shot up a fist which held a whisk. "Who's ready to bake!?"

At that, the whole room cheered, filling the room with energy. The only person who didn't cheer was Tsukune, who was now dreading about what he should do next.

Kurumu walked down the classroom, making sure that everyone had all the ingredients they needed. If not, she took the liberty of bringing a lot more with her, just in case, so no one would be short. However, her thoughts of baking were immediately dashed when she saw her 'Destined One' standing in the room.

"TSUKUNE!" she cried, before jumping onto him and hugged him tightly. "Oh, Tsukune, I can't believe you're here! This is so amazing!"

"Yeah… super… cool…" Tsukune said, his face becoming blue and his voice becoming higher in pitch as he spoke. Fortunately, before she could squeeze the life out of him, someone tapped Kurumu on the shoulder, gaining her attention.

"Um, Kurumu? You're kinda crushing Tsukune."

At that, Kurumu released Tsukune, now rapidly apologising to her love interest. Tsukune told her it wasn't a problem, making sure that Kurumu wouldn't get upset. He looked towards where he heard the voice of his savior, only to smile when he saw who it was.

"Oh, hi Rebecca." He said.

Rebecca smiled and waved at him. "Hey, Tsukune. How are you today?"

"Well, I'm alive, so that's something." He quipped, followed by a small chuckle when he saw Kurumu pouting at his joke. Kurumu ignored it for the time being and gave Rebecca a friendly smile.

"Great to have you here Rebecca. I hear you like to bake as well." Kurumu said. She was being geniunly nice to her, unlike back during their trip to Mononoke Arcade when everyone mistakenly believed her to be in love with Tsukune. The Succubus couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed about it.

Rebecca blushed slightly before speaking. "Uh, well, I used to bake when I was little, but I haven't done it in a long time." She admitted. "I was hoping to get back into it at some point."

Kurumu wrapped an arm arounf Rebecca's shoulder, surprising the latter. "Well, don't worry. I'm gonna help you get back into the grove. Just you wait, all the boys will come flying towards you, unable to resist the delicious treats you'll be able to make."

At that, Rebecca's face was entirely red. "W-What? Really!?" she said, the image of her offering a cake to Ethan now present in her mind.

"Yep. So let's get to it." Kurumu said happily before returning to the top of the room. "Okay. First of all, everyone wash your hands at the sink at your work stations."

…..

Surprisingly enough, as the class went on, everyone seemed to be getting on really well.

Several of the students had decided to try out baking something other than a cake, such as cookies or pies and the likes. Kurumu was able to help every one of the students present who were doing to their own thing, giving them helpful tips and tricks to improve the quality of their treats along the way.

Gin had, eventually, made the mistake of trying to hit of Kurumu. As he did, the Succubus, kicked him in the groin and, while grabbing his head, threw him out of the nearest window and in to the swamp that was near the school.

Rebecca also seemed to be getting on well, having decided to stick with making a cake. Hers was going to be chocolate fudge, a personal favorite of hers. As she was putting the first layer of fudge on the first half of the cake, her mind began to wonder slightly.

" _I wonder what Ethan's been up to since I last saw him?_ " she thought. " _When I last saw him, after Mononoke Arcade, he looked pretty serious… did something happen? Did he find what he was-_ "

"Rebecca?" Tsukune said, interrupting Rebecca's train of thought. "I think that's more than enough fudge on the cake."

The young woman wasn't sure what Tsukune was talking about, until she looked at her cake and saw that there was practically a mountain of fudge where her cake should've been.

"Oh no!" she cried. "Oh what did I do? I gotta clean this up." She said, now feeling silly for her mistake.

Kurumu appeared beside her and grinned. "It's fine. Let me help." She offered, picking up a bowl and gathering as much of the excess fudge as possible.

After seeing Kurumu again, Tsukune began to worry. Thankfully, she hadn't asked him why he had decided to do this class. If she had learned that Tsukune had joined to make a gift for Moka, the Succubus would probably stuff _him_ in an oven and bake him alive.

He laughed nervously at the image, hoping it would never come to be. Rebecca noticed his laugh.

"Oh, is something up, Tsukune?" she asked.

Tsukune shook his head. "No, nothing at all. Just couldn't help but notice that Kurumu's actually a pretty good teacher."

Kurumu looked at him and winked. "Well, it's easy to teach when you've been at it since being a kid." She said.

At that, Rebecca widened her eyes. "Oh, you've been baking for that long?"

Kurumu nodded. "Of course. I needed to keep my skills sharp so that I could impress my destined one when I meet him." She said. she quickly put the bowl and spatula on the table and raced to hug Tsukune again, who now seemed to be quite blue in the face… literally. "And I finally found him too!" she cried with joy.

"Uh, Kurumu? You're doing it again." Rebecca said, her eyes wide with worry.

As Tsukune was losing oxygen, he was beginning to wonder if whether or not he'd be able to get out of this cooking class alive.

"Maybe… Ethan had…the right idea… not to come." He said, finally fainting after the last word.

Seeing her beloved unconscious, Kurumu panicked. "OH NO! TSUKUNE, DON'T DIE ON ME!" she roared.

"Oh no, not again." Rebecca said, seeing this happen every time the other girls fight over him.

As this was happening, the rest of the boys in the class looked on at the scene with looks of jealousy on their faces. One of the students, a familiarly chubby-looking boy was visibly shaking with anger when he saw what was going on.

" _That Damn Tsukune Aono, thinking he can keep Kurumu all to himself._ " He mentally exclaimed in anger. " _Well I'll so him. I'm going to make a tray of cookies so delicious that she'll fall for me in an instant._ " Gouzobura, leader of the Kurumu Kurono fan club, thought menacingly.

Despite Ethan Drake's… strong reminder to stay away from the girls, Gouzobura couldn't help himself, and was continuing to try and win the Succubus' heart… at least, that's what he was telling himself.

Drake's reminder made it so that it would terrify the chubby teens to even speak to her. As such, he decided that if Kurumu was to talk to _him_ directly, then he felt that Drake would have no reason to stop him.

Unfortunately for him, as he was staring at the busty bluenette, he didn't notice that, instead of the small bottle of vanilla extract he brought with him, he grabbed onto a vial of green liquid. Without looking at the vial, he took off the lid and poured the contents into his mixture. He stirred the liquid for a while, continuing to do so until, by the time he had actually looked at the bowl, the green liquid couldn't be seen, having been mixed in with the cookie batter.

…

Eventually, Tsukune managed to recover from the death-hug, to which Kurumu was dancing around the room in joy over. She bounced back to the top of the room and clapped her hands together.

"Okay, everyone. Now that we all have our cakes made, we just need to put them in the oven. Keep in mind, they'll all vary in time, but it'll be well worth it, and you'll all be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors."

Kurumu couldn't wait to see how everyone got on. She had also baked a cake during the class, which she intended to serve to Tsukune. She had thought about adding a love potion to the cake, but she knew that if she did that, Ethan would be driven up the wall, and he was already on a short fuse with her. Best not to set him off.

She, admittedly, knew that Ethan was serious when it came to his friends, and she did tend to rile them up every now and again. She had already made up with Yukari, but Ethan's temper was not one that was easily quelled. It would be some time before he could forgive her.

She went over to everyone individually, checking to see if everything was alright. When she wen over to Tsukune, she saw him adding something onto his cake before he put it in the oven.

"Hey, Tsukune." Kurumu said, causing the boy to jump two feet into the air.

Tsukune landed on his feet, turning back to face Kurumu with beetroot-red cheeks. "Uh, sorry, I didn't see you there."

Kurumu couldn't help but giggle. "It's fine. How's the cake doing?"

"oh, it's… um…" Tsukune tried to think of something to say, only to come up short.

Kurumu noticed his discomfort and was becoming concerned. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, I'm fine. Just, uh… wanting to wait until the cake's done before I show you." He said.

"Why's that?" Kurumu asked.

At that, Tsukune began to panic. He had written a love message on the cake, which read 'You are the world to me, my heart and soul belong to you'… granted, he knew Ethan would mess with him until eternity if he saw him giving the cake to Moka, but the main problem was making sure Kurumu didn't see it.

" _Why the heck was I stupid enough to write that on the cake!? I'm so screwed if anyone other than Moka sees it._ " Tsukune thought, afraid of what might happen.

"Come ON! Stay in there, would you!?"

Tsukune and Kurumu turned to where they heard the voice, only to look shocked when they saw a familiar chubby-looking teen.

"Oh no, not him again!" Kurumu cried, hiding behind Tsukune.

Tsukune quickly recovered, seeing that Gouzobura was struggling to keep the oven door closed form some reason. Deciding to put his… to be honest, he wasn't sure what to feel against this person, or his two friends. Nevertheless, he decided that, since he was in difficulty, he would at least check to see what was wrong.

"Uh, hey. Are you okay?" Tsukune asked him.

" _NOOOO, Tsukune! You're too nice!_ " Kurumu thought, not wanting to have anything to do with at creep after what happened last time.

Gouzobura looked at Tsukune with a dark look. "Love rival…!" he said menacingly, causing Tsukune to sweat nervously.

"Uh, yeah, I'm good too. Are you okay, you seem to be struggling."

Gouzobura looked at he oven, seeming confused himself. "For some reason the oven won't stay close. I keep pushing it but it clicks back open every time."

At that, Tsukune raised an eyebrow. "That weird alright. Let me take a look."

Gouzobura didn't like the idea of his nemesis helping him… but he didn't want to have wasted his time making failed cookies. So, he allowed Tsukune to look.

"… Uh… are they supposed to be green? … And moving!?" Tsukune asked with worry.

"What are you tal-"

Before Gouzobura could finish, the oven door burst open, revealing a mass of green dough burst out, landing on the ground and moving like a slug along the ground. At that, several of the students quickly backed away, unsure of what they were seeing.

"What the HELL is THAT!?" one student yelled in horror.

It didn't help when the mass of green, living dough was starting to expand.

"Uh oh." Tsukune said simply.

…..

Outside the classroom, Moka and Yukari were walking outside, dressed in their weekend clothes. Yukari was drinking a bottle of orange juice, while Moka continued to sip at her tomato juice. As they walked, Yukari seemed to be explaining something to Moka.

"And THAT'S why the sky should be considered the longest river in the world." Yukari said, seeming to sum up whatever it was she was talking about.

Moka smiled before speaking. "It always amazes me how you know so much." She said to the young witch, prompting the younger girl to smile from the praise.

As they walked, both soon caught the sight of a familiar pyromancer resting at one of the outside tables, seeming like he was reading something.

Yukari decided to call him. "Hey! Ethan!" she yelled.

Ethan looked up from his book, seeing Yukari waving to him, while Moka was giving him a friendly smile. Smiling back, he motioned his head to tell them to come over, to which they did.

"What are you reading, Ethan?" Moka asked as she was sitting down.

Ethan brought his gaze back to the tome, but he answered the vampiress all the same. "It's a tome I got back at Mononoke Arcade, giving information on monsters or beings the everyday monster encyclopaedias don't tell you about." He answered. As he turned to the next page, he seemed to sigh, which surprised the girls. "And a lot of them are said to be either rare or extinct."

"I'm not surprised." Yukari stated. "With the development of the human world, a lot of the more ancient and powerful monsters have begun to die out, since the humans had taken the areas that they would've considered… home."

At that, Ethan gritted his teeth, and the girls soon began to look more solemn. That sentence reminded them of the events at Witch's Hill, and, in turn, what had become of Ruby's master. Deciding to change the subject, Yukari decided to speak up.

"So… any good ones?" she asked.

"One or two." Ethan answered. "One being these things called 'Espers'."

At that, Moka widened her eyes. "Espers? They're said to be really rare. They can generate a lot of magic power and use it to fight. They don't even need a magical item to channel their magic." She explained. "They are also said to be able to read minds and unlock hidden memories."

Ethan raised an eyebrow at Moka. "How do you know that?" he asked, surprised.

"I read about them in my old home, the library had a lot of ancient books that talked about a lot of things." She answered.

"These 'Espers' being one of them?" he asked to which he received a nod. He looked back at the book before speaking again. "Well, like you said, they're rare. The only way to recognise one is that they're the only beings to have…"

"… Have what?" Yukari asked, waiting for Ethan to finish what he was saying.

The Pyromancer didn't speak, however. Instead, he slammed the tome shut and got onto his feet. "Sorry, guys, gotta go." He said quickly.

"What? What's wrong? Was there something in that book that-"

"I'll tell you later." Ethan said. "But I need to go now. See you later." He said before running towards the main building of the school.

As he ran, Moka and Yukuari looked on, now worried for their friend.

"Is he okay?" Moka asked out loud.

"I don't know…" Yukari started. "… Let's find out!" she added before sprinting after the pyromancer.

"Huh!? Wait, Yukari!" Moka said, trying to get the witch's attention, but to no avail. Seeing no choice, she followed, now curious to see what had the boy riled up.

….

"Oh man! This is bad, this is REALLY BAD!" Tsukune cried.

By now, the mass of green dough had begun to cover the floor of the entire classroom, trapping many of the students in place like some kind of sand trap. Thankfully, unlike quicksand, the students weren't sinking into the ground.

A number of the students, including Tsukune, Kurumu and Rebecca were quick enough to jump onto one of the far away tables as they tried to formulate a new plan against the now live baking mix.

"Maybe we can try and warm the room enough that it'll start to cook? Then it'll be stuck." Tsukune suggested.

Kurumu shook her head. "It might expand and fill the whole room. And, to be honest…" she pointed towards the still-growing dough "That doesn't look edible." She stated.

Rebecca thought about what to do for a moment, hoping that an idea would present itself. After a few seconds, a thought occurred to her.

"What if we freeze it?" she suggested. "It would stop growing and won't move."

At that, Tsukune and Kurumu smiled.

"Rebecca, you're a genius!" the Succubus cried, wrapping her arms around the black and silver haired teen.

Tsukune would've dome the same, had he not remembered a crucial factor. He looked back at the students trapped by the dough. "But if we do that, we might accidently freeze everyone the dough's pinning down." He pointed out.

"Don't worry."

Kurumu, Rebecca and Tsukune all jumped when they heard the new voice, turning to see a familiar snow woman casually sucking her lollipop.

"GAH! Mizore, stop scaring us like that!" Tsukune yelled.

"Where's the fun in that?" Mizore asked in genuine surprise. She then turned her gaze to the dough, which was starting to get closer to the table surface. "Anyway, I can freeze the dough without harming anyone else."

"Really? Are you sure?" Rebecca asked, not out of doubt, but surprise.

Mizore allowed herself a small grin before saying "Just watch."

Mizore summoned her ice claws and slowly raised them up into the air. As she did, the air suddenly became a lot colder. Lowering her gaze back to the dough, her eyes began to glow.

"Freeze."

Wit that, the dough was suddenly encased in ice, ceasing its growth. The ice had traveled around the students, making sure that they weren't frozen as well. After she had finished, she dispelled her ice claws and motioned for her friends to follow her.

"Let's get everyone out." she said, jumping onto the ice.

"Alright, let's go!" Kurumu said, jumping after her. Unfortunately, Kurumu forgot how slippy ice can be, and ended up slipping forward and landing face-first onto the ice.

"Whoa! Kurumu! Are you alriiIIAAAH!" Tsukune said, jumping onto the ice after her, only to fall as well.

What made it worse for Tsukune was that Kurumu had instantly rolled over onto her back, and Tsukune accidentally landed head first into her chest. Tsukune's panicked screams were muffled by the bluenette's chest, although Kurumu didn't seemed that concerned.

"Oh.. Tsukune… I didn't know you were so bold." Kurumu said, her blood rushing to her cheeks.

Mizore frowned at the two, jealous that Kurumu was in that position with Tsukune. However, she was snapped out of it after she heard the sound of something cracking. Worried, she turned to see that, in the center of the frozen creature, cracks were starting to form.

She turned to face Kurumu and Tsukune, who have managed to separate at least (much to the displeasure of Kurumu). "Quick! Get everyone out, the creature's starting to escape."

Tsukune nodded. "Okay." He simply said before rushing to the other students. Picking up an mallet and a knife that was nearby, he chiseled as many students as he could. Kurumu was helping by slicing at the ice around their feet, freeing them as well. Mizore, meanwhile, fought hard to make sure the ice would hold.

Unfortunately, it was proving itself stronger, as it eventually broke free from the ice. As it did, the ice encasing the rest of it also shattered. This proved unfortunate for Tsukune, Kurumu and the last student trapped in the dough, which immediately encased them.

"NO!" Mizore yelled in panic, seeing her club members trapped by the dough. Instantly, she sent a gust of cold wind towards the creature.

At first, the ice forming around it seemed to be slowing it down, but it seemed to be adapting, as the ice seemed to peel off the surface of the dough.

"Well, this is going to be a problem." Mizore admitted.

The living dough was stationary for a moment, as if it was observing the snow woman. As second later, the upright tip of the creature lunged at Mizore, forming jaws to swallow her whole.

As Mizore was about to act, a light shot from behind her and struck the dough down its throat. Causing it to back away. Mizore looked behind and saw Rebecca, the silver tips of her hair glowing, as well as her eyes.

Rebecca stuck her right arm up in the air and spun it around in a full circle, a trail of light forming a perfect curve as she moved her limb. Pulling her hand down, she took a step back, causing the circle to decrease in size and become brighter. Using as much force as she could muster, she punched through the gap in the circle. Upon doing so, several tendrils of light shot out from the circle, all of the striking in random parts of the dough.

" **Taste this!** " Rebecca exclaimed, seeming much more confident than before, her voice echoing as she spoke.

The dough soon began to vibrate, causing it to weaken slightly. It may have been slight, but it was enough for Mizore to send another gust of wind at the dough. Upon doing so, it created a large hole, revealing Tsukune, Kurumu and the other student.

"Wha-Mizore!?" Tsukune cried.

Not wasting any time, Kurumu, grabbed a sleeve each from Tsukune and the other student, summoning her wings to quickly dash away from the dough.

They landed beside Mizore and Rebecca. When Kurumu released the two, she immediately started to try and wipe herself clean.

"EW! GROSS! OH NO, this is gonna take WEEKS to clean!" she shrieked.

Tsukune and Mizore looked at Kurumu with deadpanned expressions, unable to believe that Kurumu was allowing herself to get distracted again. This ended when they hard the sound of someone collapsing. They turned to see Rebecca on her knees, panting for breath.

"Rebecca!" Tsukune cried, kneeling by her side.

Mizore, equally concerned, squatted in front of her. "Are you okay?"

Rebecca nodded. "I'm okay. I… I think I tired myself out with that move. I never used it before."

At that, Tsukune, raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What move? What are you talking about?"

Rebecca was about to answer when Rebecca widened her eyes. Tsukune, Mizore and Kurumu (who recovered from her state of dough-induced panic) looked back to see the dough now looming over them. It was clear to them all that it was intent on ending them.

"This was _not_ what I was expecting when I came here." Tsukune admitted, now pale with worry.

"MAGIC WAND!"

The dough was suddenly encased in a pink aura. A few seconds later, it was completely obscured by a light the same color, unmoving like a statue. The light then faded, revealing that the creature was now longer in the room.

"… Eh?" they all said simultaneously."

"You're welcome."

All heads turned to see Yukari standing in the doorway, her wand present and her face showing an expression of pride.

"Yukari? You make the dough disappear?" Kurumu asked, slightly awed.

"Is that what it was?" Yukari asked, followed by her receiving nods from those trapped by the previously present dough. "Well, I got it out of this room, but I had to place it where it could be… 'properly disposed of'." She explained.

"Where's that?" one of the students asked.

"Just look out that window and you'll see." Yukari answered.

Everyone zoomed to the window in question, to which all of them saw the dough, seeming to become larger in size now that it had the extra room.

Standing before it, was Ethan.

….

After Ethan had read something in the book that seemed to set him off, he, Moka and Yukari all rushed towards a certain area. The latter of the two were unsure where they were going, as Ethan was the one charging around the school.

"Ethan, wait!" Moka called. "Where are you going!?"

"I need to check something out." Ethan answered as he continued to move. "There's no need for either of you to be with me."

"Sorry, bud. You're stuck with us until you tell us what's got you like this!" Yukari exclaimed.

After Yukari's statement, Ethan came to an abrupt stop, causing Moka and Yukari to nearly crash into him. As they straightened themselves up, he had turned to face him, causing the girls to take steps back, startled by the dark glare he was giving them.

"I get you want to help. But this. Doesn't. Concern you." He said darkly.

That statement caused Moka and Yukari to shiver in fear. However, Moka quickly recovered when she remembered that there were two things that made him this dark. Either if he was in a fight or…

"You… you found a clue to what happened to your family, haven't you?" Moka asked, causing Yukari to forget her fear and look at the pyromancer with worry. After the reveal of what happened to his family back on Witch's Hill, she couldn't believe that a person who had lost so much could still go on.

However, it was clear that Ethan would not let it go, at least not until he found out the truth about what happened.

Ethan only glared at Moka for a few more seconds before turning away from her. "Just go. I don't need-"

Ethn was interrupted when they heard the sound of glass shattering, followed by the sound of someone screaming. Ethan turned to where he heard the sounds and saw someone flying towards him. Ethan simply held out an open hand, facing his palm towards the person in question, and grabbed him by the face.

When Ethan released his grip and allowed this person to fall to the ground, his already foul mood was further soured upon seeing who it was.

"Gouzobura…" Ethan said, his voice laced with venom.

Upon recognizing Ethan, Gouzobura scampered backwards. "I-I, wait, please don't hurt me." He pleaded. "There' something attacking the other students in the baking class!"

At that, Ethan's anger quelled slightly. "Baking class?" he asked, receiving a rapid nod from the chubby teen.

Ethan looked to where he saw Gouzobura flying from, his eyes seeing a classroom in which the students were panicking. Deciding to put his anger on hold, he turned towards Yukari. "Yukari. Can you cause things to teleport away to other places, by any chance?"

"Uh, yeah. How did you know?" she asked.

"Let's just say that you weren't very discreet when you were making Moka's underwear appear in your hat." Ethan answered with a half-smirk, half-scowl, causing Moka to gasp in shock.

"Yukari!" Moka cried.

"Oh, come on, Moka. You can't-"

"Teleport that monster out here." Ethan said interrupting them.

Yukari looked over towards Ethan for a moment, before slowly forming a smile on her face. "Oh yeah, more fighting!" she cried, suddenly dashing away from the group.

Ethan looked over towards Moka and pointed towards Gouzobura, causing him to shriek with fear. "Get him and yourself at a safe distance." He simply said.

Moka nodded in understanding and grabbed Gouzobura away, leaving Ethan alone as he coated his left hand with fire.

"Let's see what's in store."

A couple of minutes later, a bright, ink light appeared in front of him. After it faded, before him was a giant piece of green sludge, which Ethan guessed was some kind of dough, swirling itself around and expanding in size.

"You're certainly not the weirdest thing I've seen here." Ethan said to the creature, allowing the fire on his hand to crawl up his forearm. "But I'd go as far to say… 'second ugliest." He finished, the memory of 'Big Bro' returning to him after seeing the chubby teen that stalked Kurumu.

…..

Back in the kitchen classroom, all the students present all looked to see what would happen to Ethan. Would he win, or would the dough eat _him_ alive?

"C'mon, Ethan. You can do this." Tsukune said confidently.

Part of the dough shot out from the main body, lunging for Ethan. The pyromancer responded by suddenly vanishing from where he was standing, only to appear behind it. The dough repeated the same attack, only for Ethan to appear on its left.

The other students were confused by what was going on, but Tsukune, Kurumu, Mizore and Rebecca all knew what was happening.

"Good thing he unlocked that super speed at the Arcade." Mizore said calmly.

"Oh yeah, Ethan's gonna kick its… uh… does that thing have a butt?"

No one answered Kurumu's question, instead they all focused on the fight, all seeing that Ethan has yet to go on the offensive.

That changed, however, when one doughy tendril shot out at Ethan, only for the pyromancer to catch it and summon a flame grenade, which he launched at the creature. Upon impact, it created a large gap in dough's form, making it seem that Ethan landed a solid hit.

"Alright, that was awesome!" Tsukune yelled, thrilled for his friend.

"… Uh oh." Mizore them said.

Tsukune looked at her, looking slightly confused. "Huh? Why 'uh oh'? he asked.

That question was answered when Mizore pointed towards the fight. Tsukune looked back and saw that the dough was… regenerating, soon looking like it hadn't been struck.

Tsukune saw a look of agitation on Ethan's face, showing that he wasn't happy with the trick the dough pulled. However, Tsukune could tell that Ethan wouldn't let something like that stop him. The pyromancer was about to act when the tendril that he was grasping suddenly expanded, remolding its shape until it was now encasing Ethan's forearm.

"Ethan!" Rebecca cried, now worried for him.

The pyromancer didn't show any fear. Instead, he stood stationary, while seeming to tense the muscles of his upper arm. No one was sure what he was up to… that is until they saw the dough trapping Ethan's arm was starting to smoke.

"What… what's happening to Ethan?" Kurumu asked.

Yukari appeared behind her, a knowing leer on her face. "Just watch."

A second later, the green dough was slowly chainging colour, becoming darker. Quickly, the dough became pitch black, followed by Ethan pulling his arm back and shattering the dough, having burnt it to a crisp.

"Whoa!" One student said.

"That's clever." Another said.

"Pretty awesome, dude." Came the voice of a third.

Ethan then stood still, observing his hand for a moment before looking back at the dough, another smirk forming on his face. he then rushed at the dough, his flame gauntlets and greaves forming, as the dough seemed to charge at him as well. Everyone was on the edge of their seats (metaphorically, as they were all standing), as they waited for Ethan to obliterate the Dough.

They were all horrified, however,when they saw that, instead of Ethan obliterating the dough, the dough swallowed Ethan whole.

Nearly everyone in the room looked like they had paled a bit, seeing the strongest boy in school suddenly eaten by a large piece of dough. If he wasn't able to do it, then who-

"Don't worry everyone."

All eyes turned to the person who spoke, who just happened to be Tsukune. "Just wait for a bit."

Yukari smiled in Tsukune's direction. "Oh? Figure it out yet?"

Tsukune nodded, which didn't help the several students surrounding him in understanding what was going on.

Kurumu was the first to speak. "Hey, what are you talking about? Figure _what_ out!?" she exclaimed.

"Ethan's strategy." Tsukune simply answered.

Kurumu was about to ask another question when she heard more of the students suddenly speaking loudly. She turned to them briefly before looking outside, as she guessed it was the source. Her eyes widened after seeing that the dough was smoking.

"Ethan allowed himself to get eaten, so he could burn the dough from the inside like he did with that tendril." Tsukune explained. "That's actually pretty-"

Tsukune didn't get to finish, as the now blackened dough exploded, sending large, but brittle, chunks of burnt dough in several directions. In the center of the explosion stood Ethan, who looked none the worse for wear aside from dark ash on his clothes.

He looked around spotting the students looking at him from the classroom, and smiled.

"Everyone enjoy the show!?" he called out.

….

"PLEASE! PLEASE I'M SORRY!"

Gouzobura was now hanging over a large cauldron of boiling water, suspended by a rope which was tied around him and was left to cry and endure his punishment.

On the ground, Kurumu, Yukari and Mizore were all sitting on lounge chairs, each enjoying a bag of popcorn as they watched Gouzobura suffer.

"Why should we? You _did_ add an ingredient to the dough that turned it into a monster." Mizore pointed out.

It turns out that the ingredient Gouzobura used was one called 'Live', a formula created by Ms. Ririko for some reason. The chubby teen found it not too long ago and mistook it for a sweetener, which lead to him deciding that he could use it in the upcoming cooking class.

Needless to say, when Kurumu found out about this, added with the fact that he did this to try and win her over, she lost it, as he essentially ruined the class. As such, it was her that came up with the punishment he was now suffering.

"Please, let me down! I've suffered enough!" be pleaded.

Kurumu turned to the rest of the girls. "What do you think? Has he suffered enough?" she asked.

"Nope." Mizore answered.

"Not by a long shot." Yukari stated.

Kurumu smiled. "My thoughts exactly." She stated before looking back at the chubby teen, who was now crying his hear out.

As this was going on, Tsukune and Moka were sitting together in the cafeteria.

"Are you sure you don't want to join the rest of the girls?" he asked, remembering how much trouble the love love alliance had caused her as much as Kurumu and Yukari.

Moka nodded in response. "I'm sure. I think they may have gone overboard a bit." She said, sweat-dropping when she remembered the evil faces they made.

Tsukune chuckled in response, to which Moka was happy to see. She was afraid that Tsukune had been scared by what had happened… but, then again, after everything that happened so far, I guess one would get used to it.

"Oh!" Tsukune suddenly said. "I just remembered something.

Tsukune lowered himself under the table, causing Moka to raise her brow in confusion. However, she looked to be both in awe and astonishment when she saw what Tsukune had to show Moka.

"This is your you." He said, offering her the cake he made in the baking class. Luckily, despite the madness, he had managed to complete it.

"…Tsukune…" Moka managed to say, still recovering from the initial shock. However, she was soon hit with more awe when she saw what was now written on the top.

 _To my first friend here. For helping through the year, for helping keep on a smile on my face, for lighting up my day_

 _Thank you._

Moka was momentarily stunned after reading the message. She couldn't form the words to respond to this. Instead, all she could do was smile and allow a few tears to roll down her cheeks. She looked back at Tsukune, seeing him smile as well.

"Tsukune… I…" she still couldn't form the words. But after wiping her left eye, she let out a soft giggle and said "Y… your welcome."

With that, she sat beside Tsukune and pulled him into a hug. The human boy had no objections, instead wrapping an arm around Moka. The two then simply sat in silence, happy to be in each other's company. As they sat, both were thinking of saying the same thing to each other.

" _I love you…_ "

…..

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

After the incident with the live dough, Ethan had managed to track down the thing, or rather person, he was wishing to talk to. After having done so, he and the person in question were standing outside the main building, resting on the bench.

Ethan looked up and stared at his companion straight in the face.

"Rebecca." He simply said.

"Uh, yes?" she said, unsure of Ethan's behavior.

"You…" he leaned in closer towards her, causing the girl to blush. "Have silver eyes."

"… Um…" If Rebecca wasn't confused before, he most certainly was now.

Ethan leaned back, his expression unchanging. "The eyes of the Esper."

At that, Rebecca felt her blood run cold. She grabbed her bag and was about to get up, when Ethan placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Rebecca looked into Ethan's eyes. Upon seeing them, she saw a look that she never imagined she would see in his face. A face that always seemed so strong.

Desperation.

"I know the Esper have had it rough." He started. "I know the pain they were put through because of their power, but I am not wanting to hurt you." He stated.

Rebecca could also here his tone wavering. She wasn't sure what could be causing this, and, truth be told, it was frightening her.

"But… I need your help." He spoke once again. "You… you can refuse if you want, but I just want you to hear my request."

Rebecca sat still for a moment, unsure of what to say. Knowing Ethan who had risked his life to help the school over and over, and never asked of anything in return… it must be an important request.

"… What is it you need help with?" she asked, deciding to hear him out.

Ethan was silent for a moment, as if preparing himself for what was about to happen. When he was ready, he asked.

"I need you to use your power on me. Unlock my memories… help me find the one... the real person responsible for my Family's death."

 **Alright, ladies and Gentlemen, I'm going to leave it at that.**

 **Well, Now that Ethan is aware of what monster Rebecca is and what she can do, one would have to wonder if she will be able to help him, eh?**

 **And, in case you asked, yes, the Esper race is partially inspired by 'Final Fantasy VI', mainly because I thought the concept was cool and I wanted to try and add it in some form. Hope you all like the idea, and if not… well, I'll be sticking to it either way to be honest, sorry.**

 **And, finally, now that this is done, I'll be getting back to that chapter for 'Remnant of Shadows'. Can't give a definite date when it'll be uploaded, but I'll do what I can.**

 **Right, that's enough from me. Leave a review and give me your honest opinion about this chapter, i love the feedback, and I hope you all have a nice day and I'll see you later. Bye. ;-)**


End file.
